Phoenix Under Siege
by Deliwiel
Summary: When Mac and his friends go back to the Foundation after-hours to grab some movie tickets left there, they stumble into a break-in at the Phoenix, and the man in charge has a past connection with one of the members of the team... A very reimagined retelling of a classic episode! Rated T for canon-typical violence (I think) and my own paranoia.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello my friends, I am back! Lol though maybe some of you were hoping I was gone for good? ;) So like it says in the plot, this was inspired by one of the original episodes of MacGyver, which is why I called it a retelling and took the name. It's obviously going to be different, but that's what a retelling is for, right? ;)**_

 _ **I own nothing about these wonderful characters, though the OCs are mine.**_

Riley walked into her apartment building with her backpack slung over her shoulder. Her landlord, who was sitting in his office right by the front door, called out to her as she walked past.

"Hey Riley," he greeted.

"Hey Frank," she replied with a smile, continuing to walk towards the stairs to get to her apartment.

"Hey, uh, there was someone here for you earlier today," he informed her. That stopped her in her tracks, confusion crossing her face.

"Who was it?" she asked, coming back to the front of the office to face her landlord.

"Don't know," Frank replied. "Never seen him before. He seemed pretty anxious to see you though," he added.

"Is he still here?" she asked, trying to figure out the uncomfortable feeling she was getting in the pit of her stomach. She relaxed slightly when Frank shook his head.

"No, this was a few hours ago. I told him I didn't know when you'd be back, and that he'd be better off trying to come see you some other time," he replied. She nodded at him gratefully.

"Thanks, Frank," she said. She turned and walked towards the stairs, her brain racing, trying to come up with anyone who could have wanted to see her. She hadn't been expecting any visitors; she really had no ties to anyone outside the Phoenix anymore, and she knew where all of her friends from there were. Her mom might have stopped by, but Frank had said it was a guy. Suddenly it clicked.

" _It was probably just my PO,"_ she thought to herself, relaxing a little more as she ascended the stairs. " _He's never come by before, and he's probably just wanting to make sure that I'm being a good parolee. Good thing I have all my electronics with me, otherwise that could have ended badly,"_ she thought with a smirk.

She jogged up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She got to her apartment and unlocked the door. As she stepped inside, she felt a small shudder run through her; she glanced around the apartment, but nothing was out of place, at least not that she could tell. She set her backpack on the floor and put her keys on the counter and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a cup and pouring herself a glass of juice. She couldn't place why she was feeling so uncomfortable, but her phone rang, distracting her from those feelings for the moment. It was Jack, and she couldn't decide whether to deny the call or not, unsure if he was about to call her in for another mission. She finally accepted the call, albeit slightly warily.

"Hello?"

"Riley," Jack's voice came over the phone. "What are your plans tonight?"

Riley looked around her apartment, still trying to shake the uncomfortable feeling that had plagued her since she entered. "Uh, nothing really," she said. "I was just planning on having a relaxing evening at home after that mission," she explained, referring to the mission they had just gotten back from and placing emphasis on the word 'relaxing.' They'd been going to meet one of their contacts who had information to share with them, but right after they got the information from him, he had been shot. Thankfully the wound wasn't fatal, but that meant that the next day and a half consisted of Mac, Jack, and Riley chasing after the shooter. There had been several close calls, but once again, they made it through the day, and they got the shooter, who was now willing to talk in order to save his own skin.

"Well, come have a relaxing evening with us," Jack offered. "We got tickets to go see that new movie," he added. "I know you've been wanting to see it," he prodded when she didn't answer. She considered his offer as she took another drink of her juice, then she finally responded.

"Okay, I'm in," she said. "What time?"

She kept telling herself that she was just being paranoid, but she really didn't like the feeling she was getting in her apartment, and she figured a night out was probably exactly what she needed to get her mind off of things.

"Meet at Mac's place in thirty minutes," Jack instructed. The call ended, and Riley finished her juice as she looked around her apartment. She gave an involuntary shudder as she thought about whoever had come to her apartment, even though she was sure that nothing sinister was meant by the visit.

"You need to take a chill pill, Ri," she muttered to herself as she set the empty cup in her sink. She went to the bathroom and freshened up quickly before the movie. Once she was ready, she grabbed her keys and headed out the door.

 _0-0-0_

"Come on dude, we're gonna be late!" Jack griped at his partner as Mac pulled into the parking lot of the Phoenix Foundation.

"Sorry," Mac apologized as he put the car into park and opened his door to get out. "Things were kind of crazy at work, and I forgot I had left the tickets here," he defended. "It's gonna take five minutes to get in, grab the tickets, and get back out."

"We're starting the clock as soon as you get outta the car," Bozer warned in a semi-joking voice, pulling out his phone and showing Mac the timer with five minutes on it.

"Would you guys relax?" Mac said in exasperation. "The movie doesn't start for another hour! We have plenty of time to get there." They had all been in the car and driving down the road when Mac had reached in his pocket and realized that he didn't have the tickets on him. Several minutes went by with him trying to remember everywhere he'd gone that day before he remembered that he had taken the tickets out of his wallet to grab something for Thornton when they got back from their mission.

"I swear, give me five minutes," Mac assured them.

"I'm comin' with you," Jack informed his partner.

"I can go in and find some tickets without a babysitter," Mac drawled.

"Oh, I don't doubt your ability to find the tickets. But I also don't doubt your ability to get distracted by the shiny things the Foundation is creating," Jack shot back. Bozer and Riley laughed as Jack got out of the car as well, and Bozer put his phone up to the window, showing that he had started the timer, which was indeed set to five minutes and counting. Mac shook his head in pretend annoyance and walked towards the front doors of the building. Jack jogged to catch up with his partner, and as the two of them walked towards the entrance, Mac noticed a van parked just outside the gates. He got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he dismissed it as he swiped his ID card to get into the building.

They walked in and passed the guard desk, where Mac saw someone unfamiliar sitting. "Where's Derek?" he asked as he stopped off to talk for a minute.

"He called in sick tonight," the new guy replied with a shrug. "Something about a nasty bug."

"Huh. Don't think I've seen you around before," Jack observed as he stared at the man.

"I've only been here a few days, and they've only had me working the night shift," the man explained with a shrug. "I'm Carl," he added, holding out his hand for a handshake, which Jack took, then Mac.

"Nice to meet you, Carl," Mac said. "We just left something upstairs. We'll only be five minutes," he promised.

"Okay," Carl said with a smile. "See ya in a few minutes then."

As they walked away, Mac had a nagging suspicion that something was wrong, but he couldn't put a finger on it, and the idea went to the back of his brain as Jack started talking.

"So where'd you leave the tickets?" Jack asked as they made their way towards the elevators.

"I think they're in Thornton's office," Mac replied as he hit the call elevator button.

"Good, so it's not going to take very long?"

"I told you it wouldn't, didn't I?" Mac asked in slight exasperation as the two of them watched for the elevator doors to open.

 _0-0-0_

Tanner was busy working at getting the case door open so that he could grab the container inside, but he was interrupted as one of his team ran up to him.

"Tanner," Allan said, jerking his thumb towards the monitoring post he had set up to watch and make sure everything was going smoothly.

"What?" Tanner asked snappishly; he was so close to figuring out the encryption for the case.

"We've got a bit more company."

Tanner sighed and walked over to the screens, watching as two men walked into the building and tarried by the guard desk where Carl was sitting before walking over to the elevators. "Do we know who they are?"

"The blond kid scanned an ID card and it popped up as Angus MacGyver," Allan replied. "A little bit of research into him, and it looks like his partner there is Jack Dalton."

"Okay, just grab them and tie them up like we did the rest of the guards and staff who were here," Tanner instructed, turning to go back to the case.

"Wait," Allan said, making Tanner stop. Tanner sighed through his nose, doing his best to stay calm as he turned back to Allan.

"What?"

"There was another person who popped up on this 'MacGyver's' known associates here," Allan said, sounding slightly hesitant. Tanner looked expectantly at his teammate, but Allan almost looked scared.

"Allan, who is it?" Tanner finally asked impatiently. Allan clicked on a few tabs and another picture was brought up. Tanner stared at the new face on the screen, a mix of feelings going through him that were hard to distinguish one from the next. "Where does it say MacGyver and Dalton are going?" he finally asked, looking at the security feed of the two men as they got on the elevator.

"They just pushed the button for this floor," Allan informed him.

"Get over to the elevators now, and bring them here," Tanner instructed. "We need to make sure they don't go anywhere."

 _0-0-0_

The elevator moved up, and Mac glanced at his watch. Jack didn't miss the gesture, and he chuckled. "What?" Mac asked.

"You're worried we aren't gonna make it in time, aren't you?" he taunted.

"What? No," Mac said, not convincing Jack at all.

"Don't worry," Jack said, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'll make sure Riley doesn't do anything drastic."

MacGyver shook his head with a small sigh while a smile ghosted across his face. The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors dinged open. As Mac stepped off the elevator, he heard a sound off to the side of him, and he began to turn his head. He didn't get very far though before a splitting pain erupted above his ear, spinning him around and knocking him to the ground.

"Whoa, Mac!" Jack said before letting out his own grunt as he was attacked from the side as well. Mac shook his head to try and clear it as he glanced over at his partner. Jack was struggling, but the blow to the man's head seemed to have stunned him, because there was a man who was quickly pulling Jack's hands behind his back and securing his hands with zipties, tightening them so tight that Mac could already see the circulation being cut off from his partner's wrists.

Mac tried to get up, but someone else grabbed his arms and wrestled them behind his back, and he felt the restraints being tied around his own wrists. He struggled and bucked under the weight of the other man, but the man simply grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled Mac to his feet. The blond let out a small groan as his head protested all the jerky movements, and he heard Jack shouting things that would have made a sailor impressed.

"Move," the man who had grabbed Mac grunted, shoving the blond forward. Mac tried to figure out if he knew any of the guys surrounding them, but no matter how hard he tried, he didn't recognize any of them. He and Jack made eye contact, and they shared a look that conveyed the same thought: Someone seriously powerful had to be in charge of this break-in in order to have gotten past the Phoenix's security system.

 _0-0-0_

"Tanner," said one of the men dragging Mac and Jack forward, grabbing the attention of the man trying to get into one of the secure Phoenix cases. Tanner turned to look at who had called his name, and when he saw the prisoners, he abandoned the case for a minute.

"Thanks Freddy," Tanner said as he turned and walked towards MacGyver and Jack.

"Where are the rest of the Phoenix employees?" Mac asked, worried that these men had seriously harmed the guards and few lab technicians that worked this late.

"They're fine, don't worry," Tanner said, waving his hand nonchalantly. "The worst that'll probably happen to them as long as they stay in line will be a monster headache in the morning," he added, as if that was supposed to make the two agents feel any better. Tanner looked at one of the men that had brought them in. "Did you get their phones?" he asked. The man who had grabbed Mac pulled the two phones out of his pocket and handed them over. "I'll add these to the pile," Tanner said. It was then that Mac noticed a small pile of confiscated cell phones. While they had taken his phone, they hadn't searched him further once they found the device, and it was Mac's goal to make sure that whoever these people were didn't notice the small knife-shaped item in his other pocket.

"The jammers are almost all in place," Freddy added. "Todd and Carlos are just setting the last ones, and they said they should be done in two minutes."

"Good," Tanner said, staring at MacGyver and Jack with a curious expression. Mac glanced around, trying to see where the rest of the Phoenix agents were, but suddenly Mac's phone began ringing. Everyone jumped slightly, and Tanner looked down at the contact picture that appeared on the screen. Tanner's eyes widened slightly, and he held it out to show Mac who was on the screen.

"Just the person I was wanting to talk to," he stated before answering the phone.

 _0-0-0_

"Five, four, three, two, one," Riley said, counting down with the timer on Bozer's phone. They had actually started it when the boys had left, just to be funny. She looked at Bozer. "What do you think?" she asked. "Should we call them and see what's taking them so long?"

"Definitely," Bozer said with a smirk. "Tell them that if they're not back out here in three minutes, they owe both of us popcorn and drinks for the movie," he added as Riley dialed Mac's number. Riley smiled and nodded her head as the phone began ringing. It rang for a few moments, then she heard the click as the call was answered. She waited for Mac's greeting, or maybe his sarcastic remark about how they were literally about to leave the building, but no one spoke.

"Mac?" Riley said, trying to get the blond to answer.

"Hey Ri," a voice finally replied, though it definitely wasn't the young Phoenix agent. It was a voice that sent shivers down Riley's spine, and her mouth dropped open as the man continued talking. "It's been a while."

 _ **Who is Tanner? What is he trying to steal? Why is he trying to steal it? What are your thoughts?**_

 _ **Also, I'm going to try to keep with my regular posting schedule of two days once I start a story, but since it is summer, I'm back to working 40 hours a week, so the updates will more than likely come in the evening (for me, anyway), and it might be three days between updates sometimes.**_

 _ **Let me know what you think!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Wow! I can't believe the response to that first chapter! I'm glad you guys are all enjoying it! I hope I can keep up the expectation through the rest of the story!**_

 _ **Also, let me just tell you that my weekend started out pretty crappy, but seeing all the support from you guys really helped, so I just want to say thank you all so much, because you were a huge part of what turned my weekend around!**_

 ** _I don't own MacGyver :(_**

"Tanner?" Riley asked, not sure if she believed her ears.

"Glad you still remember me," the man replied in a sickly-sweet voice. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten all about me. You never tried to get in touch after you got out of prison."

"With good reason," Riley snarled. Bozer gave her a concerned look, and she put the phone on speaker so that he could hear the conversation as well.

"Ouch babe," he said in mock pain. "I'm hurt."

"Get over it," Riley said shortly. "Where are my friends?"

"Y'know," Tanner said, not answering her questions. "I'd really rather continue this conversation in person," he said. Before Riley could respond, Tanner had hung up the phone, and she stared at the phone in confusion for a minute before looking at Bozer and shrugging slightly. Riley thought she caught movement out of the corner of her eye, but before she could comment on it or turn fully to see what it was, their car doors were flung open suddenly and hands reached in, trying to grab the two of them and pull them out. Riley dropped her phone and focused on defending herself. She and Bozer were dragged out of the car, but they weren't taken very far as the two of them began to apply the fighting moves that MacGyver and Jack had taught them.

Riley managed to get her feet under her and she straightened up; she caught one of the men's wrists in her hands and twisted her midsection, funneling power from her lower hips to her arms to bend the man's wrist so far that he was finally forced to drop to his knees with a grunt to avoid his wrist being broken. Riley kept a firm grip on his wrist in her hands while she brought her knee up into the man's nose, making him drop like a rock. She panted as she placed her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. She looked for Bozer, and she saw that he was still fighting with the man who had grabbed him.

Bozer yelped and his legs flailed as he was dragged out of the car, and he landed on his butt as he struggled against the man holding him. The man had the back of his shirt in his fist, and Bozer reached up behind him, trying to pry the fingers off the fabric. Bozer realized that wasn't doing much good, so he abandoned that line of defense and moved onto throwing his fists up in the air, trying to make contact with the man's face. It took a few tries, but seeing as how the man was pretty stuck in his position, Bozer was finally able to get his hands in contact with the man's face, and he began scratching at anything he could. As he was doing that, he finally managed to get his feet under him and he pushed himself upright, or as upright as he could get with the man still holding onto the back of his shirt. As soon as Bozer was as upright as he knew he was going to be, he twisted himself, trying to tangle the man's hands as much as he could. His attack didn't have the desired effect though; Bozer was now facing the ground, and the man's grip hadn't loosened at all. Bozer went back to his first tactic of trying to pry the man's hands off of his shirt, but before he could fight very much, the grip loosened and Bozer stumbled back, looking up to see Riley holding a tire iron from the trunk of the car. Her hair was slightly messed up, and Bozer looked over to see the man who had grabbed her unconscious on the ground as well. He looked back at her.

"Thanks," he said. Riley tossed the tire iron on the ground but didn't respond. Her face looked grim, and Bozer had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with the 'Tanner' character from the phone. "How'd you know that guy on the phone?" he asked after a moment of debating whether he should ask her or not.

"It's kind of a long story," she said, sounding somewhat distracted as she walked over to the men who had attacked them. She crouched down and went through their pockets, pulling out their cell phones, as well as pulling the walkie-talkies from their belts. She looked over at Bozer, who was staring at her skeptically. "What?" she asked, somewhat impatiently. She knew exactly what Bozer was wanting to know, but she didn't want to go into a ton of detail. "Okay, fine. His name is Tanner, and we used to date," she finally explained as she grabbed some nylon rope from Mac's trunk and began securing the men's hands and ankles.

"Bad breakup?"

"You could say that," Riley agreed. "I know I did things I shouldn't have before I got arrested, but Tanner...Tanner got mixed up with some bad people. I ended things with him, and he didn't like it."

"Did he hurt you?" Bozer asked, the anger flaring in his eyes.

"No," Riley assured him. "I got out of the relationship before anything like that happened."

"What does he want here?" Bozer asked, looking up at the building where he assumed Mac and Jack were now being held prisoner. Or at least he hoped they were just being held prisoner.

"I don't know," Riley answered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders. "I know that the Phoenix has been working on a lot of technological breakthroughs, but I can't think of anything that would have caught Tanner's attention, nor can I think of any way he could have found out about what we're working on," she added as she checked the unconscious men's cell phones. "Hey, do you have service on your phone?" she asked. Bozer pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned the screen on, shaking his head as he saw the words ' _No Service'_ flashing in the corner.

"Nope," he said.

"These guys don't either," Riley informed her friend. "They've gotta be jamming the signals somehow."

"So how were you able to call Mac?" Bozer asked. Riley shrugged again.

"It's possible that they didn't have all the jammers set up before I called, but now they do," she hypothesized. "We need to get word out to Thornton that the Phoenix has had a break in," she added. "You need to go find a phone and call for help," she instructed.

"Woah, where do you think you're going?" Bozer asked, grabbing her hand as she started walking away.

"I'm going inside," Riley said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Not without me, you aren't," her friend stated emphatically, folding his arms firmly. "Either we both go to find someone, or we both go in together," he added. Riley looked torn, glancing between the building and the street. The Foundation was a little out of the way, just to make sure random people and tourists didn't try to get in, but Riley wasn't so appreciative of that fact right now.

"Bozer, they need our help," she said.

"Then we both go in," he replied.

"If you can get ahold of Thornton, she'll be able to bring _more_ help," Riley argued. Bozer considered Riley for a minute.

"I don't want to leave you alone," he finally said. "I don't trust whoever this guy Tanner is."

"Don't worry," Riley tried assuring her friend. "I'm not planning on getting caught."

"You might not be planning on it, but that doesn't mean it ain't gonna happen," Bozer replied. Riley sighed in slight exasperation, and Bozer finally held up his hands. "Fine," he caved. "I'll go get Thornton to bring the cavalry."

"Thank you," Riley said as Bozer turned and hurried towards the gate. Riley watched him for a minute, but as he approached the gate to leave, she bent down and picked up the tire iron she had deposited on the ground before she turned and began walking towards the building. She glanced a little ways in front of her and saw a side-panel van, and she instantly knew that it was what Tanner and his crew had come in. She snuck over to it, and even though she was almost positive there was no one else in the van, she wanted to make sure. She gripped the iron tight in her fist as she reached out for the door, but a hand on her shoulder made her whirl and raise the iron.

"Heyheyheyhey!" Bozer yelped, releasing Riley's shoulder to cover his face. "It's me!"

"Bozer!" Riley whispered, trying not to sound angry. "What are you doing?"

"It looks like the jammers this Tanner guy is using also blocks the electronic swiping mechanism needed for my card to open the gate," Bozer explained, holding up his ID card and gesturing towards the gate. Riley put her face in her hand; she should have realized that beforehand. "Please tell me you weren't about to open a van on a bunch of angry thieves armed only with a tire iron?" Bozer asked as he looked at what Riley had been reaching for.

"There's no one in there," Riley said, reaching forward and opening the back doors. Bozer flinched, but as he peered inside, he realized Riley was right.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"Couple reasons," Riley said as she hopped inside the back of the van to check out the setup. "No one jumped out when you and I were just talking, so unless they were deaf, those guys were probably the ones sitting out here to be lookout and electronic monitoring," she said, indicating the unconscious men on the ground over by Jack's car. "Plus, I know how Tanner works," she added. "He likes to keep a small crew. Him, two guys on lookout outside, and then two or three people backing him up on the inside," she explained. Bozer nodded, accepting Riley's explanation, and watched as she dug through the computer files on the system in the back of the van.

"So... was Tanner a hacker too?" Bozer asked.

"Um, not really," Riley replied slightly absent-mindedly. "I was always better with the electronics, and while he preferred to stay hidden for most of the time that we were dating, he also wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty," she explained. "He didn't mind roughing up people he thought needed encouragement, and other things like that that made me uncomfortable."

"Mac and Jack are okay though, right?" Bozer asked, the worry for his friends coming back full force as Riley explained how her ex worked.

"I'm sure they're fine for now," she said, though she didn't sound as sure as she wanted, and she could tell that Bozer could hear the uncertainty in her voice. "Look, we're going to get in there, and we're going to get them out," she promised. Bozer nodded, but didn't say anything, and Riley continued to tap away at the keyboard.

"You got anything on there?" Bozer asked after a minute. Riley sighed and shook her head.

"No," she replied reluctantly. "The jammers are literally blocking everything that gives communication to the outside world," she said. "Nothing can get in or out, and all these computers have access to are the cameras," she said. Her eyes lit up and she began typing madly on the keyboard.

"Cameras, meaning both inside and out?" Bozer asked with a small grin as he watched Riley work her magic.

"I've got access to the cameras inside," Riley said victoriously, sitting back so that Bozer could see what was going on inside. She had to toggle through a few camera feeds, but they finally found their friends. MacGyver and Jack were sitting against a wall, their hands tied behind their backs, their ankles tied together as well. The sight wasn't a very encouraging one, but at least they knew their friends were alive and for the most part looked relatively unharmed.

"What's in that case?" Bozer asked, leaning forward and staring at the screen, where he saw a man, whom he assumed was Tanner, fiddling with the locks. Riley squinted at the screen and leaned forward as well. When she realized what case he was standing in front of, her eyes shot back open.

"He's going after the skeleton key," she said urgently, moving to hop out of the back of the van.

"The what-now?" Bozer asked, still staring at the screen as if that would give him the answers he was looking for. "Why does the Foundation have a skeleton key?" he asked in confusion. He looked around and saw Riley moving for the doors of the van, and he hopped up to follow her.

"It's not a regular kind of skeleton key," Riley replied. "It's electronic. If he can get ahold of that and turn it on, he could potentially control anything electronic within a fifty mile radius," she explained.

"Why'd the Foundation make that?" Bozer asked incredulously.

"We didn't. It was taken on a raid a few months ago," the young woman replied. "I know that some of the techs have been looking at it and studying it, but I don't know how he found out about it," she admitted, pausing for a minute before jumping out of the back of the van. Bozer almost ran into her as she stopped, and he looked at her for a moment.

"We gotta get in there," Bozer said, stating the obvious and trying to encourage the young woman to move again.

"I think I know a way," Riley muttered, turning back and hurrying over to the computers. She began typing a few more things on the keyboard, pulling up outside camera footage of the back of the Foundation building. "There," she said as she pointed out a door Bozer had never seen before.

"There's a secret entrance?" Bozer asked in amazement, not sure if he believed his eyes.

"It's more of an emergency exit for situations like this," Riley said. "It's our best shot at getting in and getting the jammers disarmed," she said. "They'll more than likely have them in the bottom level garage, so that's where we need to go."

"Okay," Bozer said. "How do we disarm them?"

"I could explain the electronic way to disarm them, but I think the fastest way would just be to take them out completely," she replied.

"As in…?"

"Smash them," Riley said, not really thinking that needed to be said. "That's the best way to cut their signals out with the amount of time that we have."

"I'm good at smashing things," Bozer agreed.

"Okay," Riley said, hopping out of the back of the van. "Let's go save the day."

 _0-0-0_

MacGyver and Jack sat with their backs against the wall, staring at Tanner as he tried time after time to get into the case. Mac and Jack had both been gagged, stopping them from yelling to Riley while she had been on the phone with Tanner. Once Tanner said that he would rather continue the conversation in person and hung up though, he simply turned and went back to trying to get into the case, and no one removed the gags.

After a few minutes with no success with the case, Tanner growled and stepped back, glaring at it as if he could intimidate it into opening. He studied it for a moment more, but when he looked at his watch, he realized it had been almost seven minutes since his phone call with Riley had ended, and no one had been brought in. Tanner pulled his walkie-talkie from his belt, pushing the button. "Thompson, Wolfe, are you guys coming?" he asked. There was static on the other end, and after a few more moments, Tanner tried again. "Guys," he said. "What's going on?" There was still no response, and MacGyver could see Tanner beginning to get twitchy. The young blond shared a look with his older partner, and he could tell they were both thinking the same thing. If no one was answering, there was a good chance that Riley and Bozer had gotten the better of the men trying to bring them in.

Tanner finally abandoned his attempts at trying to open the case for a moment and walked over to Allan, muttering quietly so that Mac and Jack couldn't hear what was being said. The two thieves came to an agreement, and Allan quickly walked out of the room, leaving two other men besides Tanner to guard Mac and Jack.

 _0-0-0_

Allan moved through the hallways silently, peering out the windows as soon as he could. He saw their van, and he saw the car he assumed their unwanted visitors had come in. Next to that vehicle, he saw two dark forms, unmoving. He growled and quickened his pace; Riley Davis had gotten the better of Thompson and Wolfe, and now she was loose. He knew that the gate was electronically locked, and with the jammers in place, she wouldn't be able to get out, so he knew she had to be going for the jammers. He quickly ran down the hallway and called an elevator, hitting the button for the lower-level garage.

 _ **Okay guys! What do you think is going to happen?! Eep! Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**I am always blown away with how awesome you guys are :) Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites, follows, and condolences on my rough weekend!**_

 _ **I don't own MacGyver, but the OCs are mine.**_

"Come on," Riley said, glancing back at Bozer. "What's the hold up?"

"I'm just making sure no one's coming behind us," Bozer said. "Can't you do a lot of this stuff wirelessly?" he asked in a whisper as he turned to follow her once again.

"Tanner's old-fashioned," Riley replied in an equally quiet voice. "He knows things can be hacked wirelessly, so he prefers to have hardware that can't be hacked," she explained.

"That makes things more difficult for us," Bozer said, stating the obvious. They had just entered the garage, and Riley looked back at her friend to respond, but paused when she spotted something blinking about halfway up the wall. She recognized it immediately and made a beeline for it.

"This is a jammer," she said, reaching up and pulling it off before turning to show it to Bozer.

"It looks like a walkie-talkie," Bozer observed.

"Yeah, they do," Riley agreed. "So anything that looks like a walkie, just go ahead and smash," she instructed as she dropped the device on the floor and dug her heel into it, splitting it into several pieces.

"Wait, what?" Bozer asked. "Why does it sound like you're trying to get rid of me?"

"It'll be faster if we split up to find the rest of the jammers," Riley insisted. "There should be four or five of them for the size of this building, and they're going to be placed all throughout the garage. If we want to be able to call for help as soon as we can, we need to split up."

Bozer didn't look happy about it, but he nodded. "Alright," he conceded. "Just...be careful," he cautioned.

"I could say the same to you," Riley quipped. She unclipped one of the walkie-talkies she'd taken from the men who attacked them from her belt and handed it to her friend. "Keep this as low as the volume will go, and don't use it unless it's an emergency," she instructed. Bozer accepted the walkie, and after giving his friend one last look, the two of them split up.

 _0-0-0_

Bozer walked carefully through the structure, ducking behind a corner whenever he heard a noise. He knew he was being paranoid, but there was just something about creeping around the garage of his workplace while he knew it was being robbed that made him just a little jumpy and on-edge.

He kept his eyes peeled, searching for anything that looked like what Riley had smashed earlier, and after a few minutes of searching, he finally spotted one of them on one of the columns between the parking spots. It was up a little higher than he was tall, but after a few jumps, he finally managed to knock it enough that it was dangling, and he reached up and grabbed it, pulling it from the velcro strap it had been attached to. He stared at it for a moment, then without another second of hesitation, he placed it on the ground and stepped on it, the crunching sound under his foot giving him a small sense of relief, knowing they were one step closer to calling for backup.

He looked at the broken piece of electronic equipment on the floor, mentally making a checklist. Riley had destroyed the one they found together, and now this one was gone. "Two down, probably three more to go," he muttered to himself, deciding it was better to expect more, just so that he could be pleasantly surprised if there were less than five.

As he continued to move through the garage, he couldn't stop the _Mission Impossible_ soundtrack from playing in his head, even though he knew it probably wasn't the best time to have an amazing soundtrack racing through his brain, possibly distracting him.

He visualized the structure of the garage; it was square, and he realized that he and Riley had found the first jammer in the southeast corner of the space, and that he had found the one he just destroyed in the southwest corner. Even though he didn't know as much about technology as Riley did, he figured the best positions for the jammers to be placed would be in each corner, which made sense with where the current jammers had been found, and then if there was fifth, he guessed it would probably be in the middle of the garage somewhere. He squared his shoulders and quickly took off for the northwest corner, constantly keeping an eye out for any sign of Tanner or his men.

 _0-0-0_

Riley moved quickly and quietly through the garage, barely making a sound as she snuck around. She found another jammer within ten minutes of separating from Bozer, and it was quickly destroyed. She checked her phone, but clenched her teeth in frustration as it still showed no service. She figured by now, Bozer had found at least one jammer, so she figured they were dealing with five or more jamming devices. She knew the best place to put the devices were in the corners and then if there was a fifth, in the middle, so she made a 180 degree turn and headed for the middle of the structure.

She reached it within a few minutes, and after a few moments of staring around at the columns, she finally located the blinking light of the jammer. She reached up to grab it from the wall, but her fingers had just closed around the electronic piece of equipment when she heard footsteps echoing around the garage.

She released the jammer and backed behind the pillar before freezing, not wanting to make any sort of sound. " _It could be Bozer,"_ she theorized to herself, but something told her that it wasn't her friend. She took a deep breath and focused on listening to the footsteps, trying to determine where the newcomer was, and her breathing hitched as she realized that the person was closer to her than she thought. She held her breath for a minute, not wanting to give away her position.

She heard the footsteps shuffling around the pillar she was hiding behind, and she quietly went around the other side of the pillar, keeping out of sight of whoever was coming around the opposite direction.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only thirty seconds or so, she finally heard the footsteps getting further and further away, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief. She peeked her head around the pillar, verifying that the person who was walking away was indeed _not_ Bozer. The young hacker waited a few more seconds to give the man time to walk away before she reached up for the jammer again. The walkie on Riley's belt squawked though as someone began asking for Thompson again, and she froze as the man who had been walking away turned sharply and hurried back towards her.

Riley knew her hideout had been discovered, and she jumped out from behind the pillar to try and get the first punch in. She had the element of surprise on her side, but the man was much taller and broader than she was, and he caught the punch she was aiming at him. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him, and within mere seconds, he had her off the ground, with her arms pinned to her side. Riley struggled in his grip, grunting and throwing him off balance slightly before she finally jerked her head back, smacking the man in the nose. With a yelp, he raised his arms to his face instinctively, causing him to release her.

Riley dropped to the floor and glanced back quickly; when saw him cupping his nose, she tried to take advantage of his distraction by kicking backwards with her foot. The man's hand lashed out faster than she could blink though, and he caught her ankle in his hand, holding it fast. Riley's arms pinwheeled as she tried to keep her balance, but she knew the only thing keeping her upright was the grip the man had on her ankle.

She grunted as he yanked her leg towards him, throwing her even more off balance than before. As she struggled to pull her leg out from his grip, he brought his elbow down on the side of her knee, and she cried out in pain as she collapsed, grabbing at her knee in an attempt to stop the pain.

Her attacker bent down while she was incapacitated and grabbed her by the elbow, dragging her up, completely ignoring her cries of protest. He actually placed his hand over her mouth to try and stop her from crying out more, but when she licked his hand, he backhanded her across the face. The hit was hard enough to daze her, which made it easy for him to drag her across the floor. He slung her arm around his shoulder and half-dragged, half-carried the young woman to the elevator, where he pressed the button to call the car to carry the two of them to the floor where Tanner was waiting.

 _0-0-0_

He hadn't quite reached the location where he figured the second jammer would be when Bozer heard a commotion coming from somewhere to his right, and he turned to stare in that direction. He had a sinking feeling in his gut, and after a moment he abandoned his quest for the jammer and began heading in the direction of the noise. He still kept an eye out for anyone that would want to stop them from destroying the jammers, but he didn't see anyone. His concern grew as the commotion faded from his hearing, and he quickened his pace so that he was jogging as quietly as he could through the garage; he finally slowed to a stop when he was unable to hear the noise anymore. He was breathing a little heavier from his impromptu jog, but he tried to keep his breathing as quiet as he could, just in case there was someone down there besides him and Riley. He looked around and suddenly spotted something flashing at him from the column slightly to his left. He walked over and reached up to grab the jammer, but paused as he noticed the device was a little skewed on the velcro.

" _It could've just been put there in a hurry,"_ he tried convincing himself, but he knew in his gut that wasn't what happened. The scuffle he had heard earlier, plus this jammer that looked like someone had tried to pull it off, and the fact that he couldn't see Riley anywhere made him worry that she had been grabbed.

He debated whether he should run after her or not, and he actually took a few steps in the direction of the elevator, but against his better judgement, he decided against it, despite his desire to keep his friend safe. He didn't know how far ahead of him Riley and her possible captor were, and he knew that even if he was able to catch up to them, he was hardly a match for whoever had taken her down.

He realized that the best thing he could do would be to get the jammers down and call for help. With his face set in grim determination, he walked over to the column and grabbed the jammer, setting it on the floor and stepping on it, taking great care to make sure it was as quiet as possible so that he didn't draw any unwanted attention to himself. Once he made sure that jammer was down, he checked his phone again. He cursed quietly when he saw there was still no signal, and he headed back towards the corner of the garage he had been going for before he had been distracted.

 _0-0-0_

MacGyver and Jack watched Tanner fiddle with the keypad for the container he was trying to break into, and Jack had to stop himself from smirking through his gag. Tanner growled quietly as he was once again denied access to the contents of the container, but after a moment, he turned to his two hostages on the floor. He walked over to them with an almost feral look in his eyes.

"Which one of you knows the code to the door?" Tanner asked as he crouched down in front of Mac and Jack. Neither of them made any attempt to answer, even with the gags in their mouths, and Tanner sighed. He reached over and pulled the gags out of their mouths, trying to get them to give him the code. "Just tell me what the code is and I'll get out of your hair," he tried persuading them.

"We don't know it," Mac said, trying to get some moisture back into his mouth. Tanner glared at the two of them; suddenly he stood up and walked over to a different cabinet with a glass covering. He glanced inside, and after seeing the contents, he turned his head away and jerked his elbow back into the glass, shattering it completely. He covered his hand with his jacket sleeve and brushed off all the remaining bits of glass before reaching in with his sleeve-covered hand. He felt around for a minute before finally pulling out a syringe and a vial with a red-colored liquid inside. He read the label and apparently was satisfied with what he read, because he stuck the needle of the syringe into the lid and began extracting the liquid.

"Listen, you can either tell me what I want to know, or we can find out exactly what this does," he offered as he finished filling the syringe and tapping it to get the air bubbles out. Once again though, MacGyver and Jack refused to give him the answer he was looking for. Tanner towered over the two of them, but in the distance the small group heard an elevator door ding, and soon the sound of people approaching got closer and closer. Tanner set the syringe down on a counter, not noticing that Mac had begun fidgeting with something behind his back.

 _ **And before you ask, no, Mac is not playing with one of those fidget spinners ;)**_

 _ **So thoughts? Sorry, it's kind of a weird place to end it, but it worked out for the best this way so... :D**_


	4. Chapter 4

**_Hello! Let's disperse with the beginning AN for now; just know that I own nothing of MacGyver ;)_**

The elevator doors slid open and Allan pulled Riley out, dragging her down the hall to the room where Tanner was waiting. The young woman's knee was pulsing in pain, and her head was still spinning slightly, making it harder for her to struggle against the man holding her, though it didn't stop her attempts at trying to get away.

Allan finally pushed the door open and walked in, dragging Riley with him. The young woman looked up and saw Tanner glance over at them, his face an impassive mask as he walked towards the new arrivals. Riley also saw MacGyver and Jack sitting against the wall, hands and feet tied together just like she had seen in the camera feeds. They were looking at her with concern in their eyes as Allan stopped, waiting for Tanner to come the rest of the way to them. She did her best to give them a reassuring look, but she was pretty sure it just came out as a grimace instead.

"Riley," Tanner said, his voice giving the young woman the chills as he stopped about a foot away from her. She looked up at him, though her view of him was slightly tilted, seeing as how she was still being mostly supported by Allan. Almost as soon as she thought about how much him holding onto her arm was hurting, Tanner nodded and Riley was lowered to the floor, a bit more rough than was probably necessary, but the hacker didn't really pay attention to that as Tanner crouched down next to her. She was panting from pain and the exertion she had put out while being dragged throughout the Foundation, but she still found the energy to glare at Tanner. Allan leaned over and whispered something in Tanner's ear, and the man looked down at his ex-girlfriend.

"Allan says you were trying to disarm the jammers?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know how much those things cost."

"You were the one who stopped by to see me today," Riley said, ignoring the accusation Tanner was aiming at her.

"Give the girl a prize," Tanner drawled. "I would have waited longer for you, but your landlord is quite the stickler when it comes to letting people in," he complained. Riley made a mental note to thank Frank with a huge box of pizza.

"Well, he's usually got a pretty good judge of character," she shot at him.

"That's hurtful, babe," he said, putting his hand over his heart as if he were in pain, though Riley had a sneaking suspicion Tanner was incapable of actually _feeling_ anything.

"Don't call me that," Riley said immediately.

"After all we've been through together?"

"That was a long time ago, Tanner," Riley insisted. "I'm not the same person I was when we were dating!" Riley could see the shock and surprise on Mac and Jack's faces out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored him, choosing instead to focus on the man in front of her.

"So it would seem," Tanner said, nodding his head. "You get out of prison and you begin working _for_ the government? The same people who put you in there in the first place? Ri, that's not like you," he said, disappointment lining his voice.

"People change," Riley said, trying to keep as much pain as she could out of her voice. "You did," she added, looking up at him. Tanner shrugged and opened his mouth like he was going to reply, but suddenly there was a great deal of buzzing, and everyone looked to the pile of cell phones that had been confiscated from the different employees of the Foundation. Riley quickly glanced towards her friends and saw Mac working his arms around, and she quickly wondered if Tanner had searched them thoroughly and taken away his pocket knife. She turned her attention back to her ex as Tanner's eyes took on a murderous look that changed to disappointment after a few seconds, and he rubbed his forehead.

"There was someone else," he said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Shoulda figured." He rubbed his forehead a few more times, then looked at Riley. "Get the case open," he instructed, motioning at the case he had been trying to get into.

"I don't know the code," Riley said, trying to stall for time so that Bozer could call in reinforcements. Tanner let out a strained chuckle as he scratched the back of his head impatiently, looking around for a minute. That minute was the only distraction MacGyver and Jack needed apparently.

Mac's arms shot out from behind his back while Tanner was staring at Riley, and in the moment it took for Riley's ex to turn around, the blond had brought his knife around and sliced through the zip ties around his ankles. As Tanner moved towards the young Phoenix agent with hate and rage in his eyes, Mac turned to his partner and quickly sliced through the plastic tie around Jack's wrists, then dropped the knife next to his partner's newly-freed hands before he stood up to fight Tanner. As soon as he stood up though, he had to duck Tanner's fist, which was aimed for his nose.

The blond ducked and jumped backwards before kicking his foot out to try and connect with Tanner's leg, but his attack was met with thin air. The blond looked up and saw Tanner had jumped backwards as well, and now that they both had taken a shot at each other, things seemed to be more even; neither of them had the advantage over the other. Or at least, that's what MacGyver thought. Riley had rolled out of the way of the fight, pressing herself against the cabinet to avoid being hit.

"Give it up," Mac said as he brought his fists up, ready to fight. "We've got backup coming even as we speak."

It was a slight bluff, seeing as how he didn't know if Bozer had actually called for backup, but he was hoping to buy them a little more time. Tanner didn't say anything, but he did smirk, and before MacGyver could figure out what was humorous, Riley called out,

"Mac! Behind you!"

He didn't have time to turn around to see what was behind him, so he ducked, hoping that it was a punch coming his way, and not a kick. He felt the breeze ruffle his hair as Allan's arms barely missed wrapping around the young man's torso.

While MacGyver was preoccupied with Allan, Tanner turned and grabbed the syringe he had deposited on the counter earlier. Jack had just cut the ties off his ankles and he got to his feet. He reached out for Tanner, but he didn't see the small syringe the other man had in his hand, and he only noticed it when the needle was plunged into his arm and the contents were dispersed into his bloodstream.

Jack grunted in pain and ripped the syringe out of his arm, tossing it aside and moving forward as if he were still going to fight Tanner, but he stumbled forward suddenly.

"Jack?" Riley asked, the worry in her voice apparent. She'd climbed to her feet with the help of the cabinet, and she began to move forward, but Tanner wrapped his arms around the young hacker, preventing her from going to her friend.

"Jack!" Mac yelled as he saw his friend begin to falter. The blond's distraction was what Allan had been waiting for, and Tanner's friend picked up a large glass beaker sitting on a counter and smashed it over Mac's head, sending the blond to the floor. Mac tried to push himself to his feet again, but he felt like he was going to throw up if he moved at all.

"Wait," Tanner said, getting a malicious glint in his eyes. "Jack? As in, _the_ Jack?" he asked as realization dawned on him. Jack was rubbing at his eyes like he had something in them, and Tanner chuckled as he stared at the older agent with a slightly amused expression on his face. "This is the mighty Jack?" he asked, gesturing to the man in question. "But it couldn't be," he continued as he looked at the fallen Jack and the dazed MacGyver, then down to Riley. "I thought you hated him!"

Riley glared at her ex and once again tried to get to her injured friends, but Tanner shook his head and tightened his grip, preventing her from moving forward again. "We didn't get what we came for, but that doesn't mean we're leaving empty-handed," he said, nodding at Allan. Allan got the implied order and he surged forward, once again wrapping his arms around Riley and lifting her off her feet before she could even think about putting up a fight. As she and Allan were leaving though, she began jerking in the man's arms, trying to dislodge herself. Allan simply tightened his grip before continuing to walk out the door.

Tanner looked at the two agents on the floor with disdain as he followed his companion out the door as well. Mac fought his way through the nausea and pushed himself up on all fours, crawling over to Jack, who had collapsed and began convulsing slightly.

"Jack," MacGyver said as he reached his friend, wincing as his head throbbed. He pushed through the pain though, knowing he needed to help his friend.

Jack coughed and began jerking again, but he managed to grab his young partner's shirt and look him square in the eyes. "Go...get...Riley," he ordered through wheezy breaths. Mac hesitated for a minute, not wanting to leave Jack alone, but Bozer appeared in the doorway at that moment.

"Bozer, stay with Jack!" Mac said, ignoring his roommate's wide-eyed stare as he took in the scene before him. "You," Mac added, turning back to Jack. "Don't go anywhere," he instructed. The blond pushed himself to his feet, ignoring Bozer's questions as to what had happened and where Riley was.

"Not...planning to," Jack panted as another wave of pain went through his body. Bozer had dropped down next to Jack and was trying to keep him as still as possible as Mac finally got to his feet and hurried out the door as fast as he could, grabbing his phone on the way out. As he moved down the hallway, his mind became clearer and clearer, but he was still a little foggy. He stumbled his way down the hall, thinking he should take the stairs but knowing if he fell it could be catastrophic, so he hurried for the elevator instead. Thankfully, the door opened almost immediately and Mac stepped inside, hitting the ground level button. While the elevator was going down, Mac opened his phone and called his boss.

"Mac, what's going on?" Thornton asked as she picked up. "We just got almost a dozen notifications about unauthorized access at the Foundation, and-"

"There was a break-in," Mac interrupted, knowing he didn't have a ton of time to explain. "Someone broke in and we were caught in the middle; they took Riley," he added as the doors opened, revealing the ground floor. The guard, Carl, had a large bag on his shoulder and was just shutting the door behind the retreating figures. Mac sped towards the glass doors, seeing several dark figures in the distance nearing the van he had spotted earlier. He squinted and could just make out a struggling figure he knew had to be Riley.

"Mac?" Thornton's voice came on over the phone. "Mac, talk to me!"

"Jack was injected with something," he finally said. "You'll need to send a medic with backup." He could hear Thornton saying something else, but he knew that he had precious little time before Riley was gone, and he had to act fast. He pushed past his heachache and ran for the door, bursting out of it and running into Carl, tackling him to the ground. He let out a short groan as he hit the ground, and he could do nothing as Carl scrambled to his feet. Mac's head snapped to the side as Carl's foot connected with his cheek, and then the air was pushed out of his lungs as Carl's dug his foot into Mac's abdomen. Mac wheezed and rolled over, watching as Riley's struggling figure was loaded into the back of the van. He tried pushing himself to his feet, but Carl brought his elbow down on Mac's back, ensuring the blond would stay on the ground before he turned and ran for the van as well.

Mac's head was threatening to split open, and his breathing was coming in short gasps. His vision began blurring, and one of the last things he saw before he dropped back to the ground were the tail lights of the van as it drove away. Mac could only hope that the men wouldn't find the phone he had slipped into Carl's bag before the Foundation had a chance to mount a rescue. The other thing he saw as the van rounded the corner was headlights coming around the opposite corner and speeding towards the building. Mac could only hope that whoever it was had seen the van and that they were going after it, because it was at that moment that his eyes finally closed, and he dropped into unconsciousness.

 _ **Uuuuuuhhhhh... sorrynotsorryaboutthatcliffhanger! XD**_

 _ **Okay, so I'm not sure about this chapter, it felt a little choppy to me? What did you guys think?**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Okay, time to see how Jack is doing!**_

 _ **I own nothing of MacGyver, and most of the medical stuff is found either from other TV shows or from Google ;)**_

Bozer watched as Mac stumbled out the door, holding his head as he moved as quickly as he could down the hall. Jack started seizing again though, and Bozer's attention was drawn back to his friend lying on the floor.

"What can I do?" Bozer asked, trying to get Jack's attention. He saw the discarded vial and syringe on the ground, but when he picked it up, the words on the side of the vial meant nothing to him. He hurried over to the cabinet that had broken glass, guessing that's where the vial had come from.

"There's gotta be something in here to help," he muttered, partially to Jack, but mostly to try and assure himself. He reached into the cabinet, carefully avoiding the jagged glass, and he began pulling out different vials, but once again, the words meant nothing to him. He didn't stop trying though, until he heard Jack wheezing on the floor. Bozer looked to the older spy and saw Jack's hands scrabbling over his chest as he tried to breathe in. Jack's head lifted off the floor for a moment as he tried to look around, and he spotted Bozer. Mac's roommate hurried back to Jack's side, knowing that looking through the vials was doing him no good, and Jack needed a familiar face.

"You can't breathe?" Bozer asked as he reached his older friend. Jack managed to get out a nod. "Uuuuhhhh…" Bozer looked around the lab, trying to find anything he could to help his friend breathe better. Jack tried to lift his head up again, but Bozer knew well enough to make sure he kept still. "Don't move, Jack," he instructed. "It'll block your airway."

"When did you...become a...first aid...person?" Jack asked through his ragged breaths. Bozer snorted, despite the serious situation.

"That's just common knowledge, bro," he replied. "I can't help it if you've taken one too many hits to the head to retain simple stuff like that," he quipped, trying to keep Jack awake. Jack wheezed again, but this one sounded like an attempt at a chuckle. Bozer felt a small sense of relief, knowing he was at least keeping Jack entertained. He was about to say something else, but they finally heard shouting coming their way, and the doors burst open, allowing several guards to swarm inside, along with a couple doctors Bozer recognized from the Phoenix Medical Center.

"Please," Bozer begged as one of the doctors ran over to the convulsing agent. "Do something!"

"What was he injected with?" she asked, falling to her knees and shining a light in Jack's eyes, trying to measure the pupil reactions. Bozer didn't ask how she knew he was injected with something; he was just happy someone was finally here to help. He looked around frantically until he found the discarded vial he'd tossed to the side. He grabbed it and handed it over to the doctor, who scanned the label.

"Keep him steady," she instructed Bozer. Mac's roommate quickly replaced the doctor's position at his friend's head to try to keep him as still as possible while the doctor hurried over to one of the emergency medical kits kept in almost every room in the Phoenix Foundation, grabbing a pump used by first responders to help pump air during CPR.

"What's happening to him?" Bozer asked as she knelt back down next to Jack, whose eyes had fluttered closed. Bozer slapped his friend's cheek, lightly at first, but when that didn't have the desired effect, he slapped the older man a little harder until Jack's eyes opened momentarily to glare at Bozer.

"He's experiencing histotoxic hypoxia-meaning the cells can't utilize any oxygen normally," she explained as she placed the mask over Jack's mouth and began pumping the air. "A few weeks ago, the Foundation confiscated a drug that caused such symptoms," she added when she could see Bozer was itching to ask why the Foundation had anything like that. Knowing that she didn't have time to go into a full explanation of the drug, she gave him a sympathetic look. "I can try to explain everything later," she promised. Bozer nodded in agreement, and the doctor looked behind her. "We need to get this man intubated, and we need an antidote," she yelled at the people behind her.

Bozer jumped and moved out of the way as a team of first responders rushed to their side, carefully lifting Jack onto a board and strapping him down. One of the men made sure to keep pumping air into Jack right up to the moment that an oxygen mask was placed over Jack's mouth and nose.

Bozer watched, slightly in shock as Jack was taken away, but he felt a sense of relief wash over him again as he saw MacGyver and Thornton walking down the hallway towards them. Mac had a medic fluttering around him, but he kept waving them off, keeping a simple ice pack against the back of his head.

"Dude, what happened?" Bozer demanded as soon as Mac and Thornton were in the room with him.

"That's what I've been asking," Thornton agreed, looking at Mac. "I've been caught up to as far as Mac and Jack getting caught, but I haven't heard anything else," she said, staring at Mac expectantly.

"I can help a bit with that," Bozer piped up. "But I can't fill in much of what happened here exactly," he added, motioning to the room around them. He went on to explain how he and Riley had gotten into the Foundation and how they'd gone around destroying the jammers, but the last thing he was really able to explain was how he'd realized Riley had been grabbed. "I knew I had to finish the job and get word out, but I wonder if I'd have been able to help with something if I'd gone after her," he said, a tormented look coming over his face.

"Stop that," Thornton ordered. "You did the right thing by getting the rest of the jammers down. You were just outnumbered. There's not much you could have done, especially if you'd been caught along with Riley," she added. "Mac, can you explain what happened once Riley was brought in?"

"I mean, Tanner, the guy in charge, seemed like he knew her. Riley even said something about them dating once, but I know she didn't have anything to do with this," he said, wanting to make sure his boss knew that Riley was innocent.

"I know, don't worry," Thornton assured the blond, holding up her hand to stop him from trying to convince her further.

"Okay...anyway, once Bozer got the jammers down, Jack and I tried to fight back, but they got the drop on us again, and Tanner said that even though they didn't get what they came for, they weren't leaving empty-handed. He had one of his men grab Riley after he jabbed a needle into Jack-where is he?" Mac asked, as if suddenly realizing that his partner wasn't where he'd been left.

"It's fine," Bozer assured Mac. "Phoenix Medical came and they took him away to treat him. The doc said something about his cells not being able to use oxygen, which is why he couldn't breathe?" Bozer explained, not sure if he was remembering everything correctly. He must have though, because Mac looked like he knew exactly what Bozer meant.

"Well, when I tried to run after them, I was able to slip my phone into one of their bags before he got away," Mac explained as he walked over to a computer. "Riley is a lot better at this stuff, but I do know how to track a phone," he explained. He opened a program and put his number into the search bar and hit enter, waiting for the program to ping the phone's location.

"We tried to have some of our men chase the van when we saw them leaving the Foundation, but they were able to get enough of a head start that they shook our guys pretty quickly," Thornton explained to Bozer, who looked disheartened at the events unfolding around them.

While they were waiting for the program to find Mac's phone, the doctor who had been flitting around Mac, trying to get him to hold still was finally able to shine a light in the agent's eyes, causing him to flinch away.

"Agent MacGyver, from what I can tell, what with the several hits you took to your head, along with your pupil's reactions and the nausea you were describing earlier, you have a mild-to-moderate concussion, and I really do suggest you take it easy for a little while," she urged.

"Once Riley's back I will," Mac said doggedly. The doctor saw she wasn't going to win the fight with the stubborn agent, so she pulled Thornton aside.

"Director Thornton, I really do strongly suggest that he be kept to a bed where he can get rest," she implored.

"Doctor, I will do what I can, but I know MacGyver. One of our own has been taken, and he won't rest until she's back safe with us," she said. "I once tried to lock him in a room with absolutely nothing but the bare bones of the room when he was the target of an assassin, and he still managed to get out. If he's going to come, I'd rather it be on my own watch so that I can keep an eye on him. Don't worry," she added. "I'll do everything I can to make sure he stays safe, and if I can get him to rest for a moment, I will," she promised. The doctor was about to respond, but the program Mac had put his phone number into dinged, and everyone turned to look at where the location was.

"Let's go get our girl back," Thornton said with a grim look of determination on her face.

 _0-0-0_

Riley bit her lip to avoid crying out in pain every time the van hit a pothole or took a corner too sharply, throwing her into the side of the vehicle and jostling her knee. She didn't know how badly it was injured; she just knew it hurt like no one's business, and was swelling enough that it felt like her jeans were going to rip from the pressure. Her wrists were also throbbing thanks to the zipties that had been tightened around her wrists.

"Tanner, we've got a tail a little ways behind us," Allan called back from the driver's seat.

"Can you lose them?" the leader asked. In response, the entire crew plus Riley felt the van speed up a little, and after a few minutes, Allan called back,

"I think they're gone."

"Good. Keep an eye out for them though," Tanner responded. "I don't want to have any unwanted guests showing up; we need to figure out a way to make a trade for the key." Riley was confused about what was going on, but no one else offered up any clarifying statements. She looked up after a moment when she felt like someone was staring at her, and she saw (unsurprisingly) that it was Tanner staring at her from the opposite corner of the van, and she decided to break the silence.

"Why do you want the skeleton key?" she asked. "You never cared much about hacking, so why would you want something that lets you hack anything electronic?"

"You're right," Tanner replied after another few moments of observing her. "I don't care about it for the hacking. What I do care about is the money the device is worth," he explained.

"Hm, it sucks that you didn't get it then, doesn't it?" the young woman replied scathingly. Tanner continued to stare at Riley, and soon she began to feel uncomfortable.

"What happened with us, Ri?" he finally asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand the question," Riley quipped. "Are you talking about before or after you brought a man into your home and had him beaten while I was there just because someone told you to? You didn't even know what he did! You were just blindly following orders," she accused.

"I'm sure they had a good reason," Tanner argued.

"Stop it Tanner," Riley snapped. "You don't care about whether someone had a reason or not. You just became an enforcer for the highest bidder, and you didn't care who got hurt. My only question is when did you turn from hitter to thief?"

"When the price was right," Tanner responded with equal curtness. Their conversation would have continued, but at that moment, several things happened at once. Allan yelled something from the front again, but he was drowned out by the squealing of brakes, and suddenly there was a massive hit from the side, and before anyone could do anything, the van they were in was knocked over.

Everyone sat in a daze for a moment, and then the back doors of the van were flung open, letting the lights from the other car's headlights flood in, making everyone squint. Riley brought her hands up to cover her eyes, hoping for a moment that it was MacGyver and Jack, but those hopes were quickly dashed to pieces as she realized she didn't recognize the men standing above them. There was a surprised noise from the man in the front, and he quickly surged forward and grabbed Riley's forearms, hauling her to her feet and dragging her out of the back of the van. She couldn't help the pained cry that escaped her throat as she accidentally put weight on her injured leg, but her yelp was cut off when the man placed his hand over her mouth.

She was hauled towards the waiting vehicle backwards, getting the opportunity to see Tanner and his men trying to get out of the van, but they were still dizzy and disoriented from the crash. Riley's vision blurred as the pain in her leg became so intense that she felt like she was about to pass out, but she was finally lifted off her legs and placed in the back of a large SUV, thankfully taking the pressure off her leg. She wanted to try and roll out from the trunk, but the hatch was slammed shut before she could start moving.

She heard some yelling, then the doors to the vehicle were yanked open, and soon the car's engine was running and the vehicle took off.

Riley's bound hands were itching to grab her knee, but she knew that would only cause more pain, which was something she definitely didn't need at the moment. She closed her eyes, trying to ride out the pain and distracting herself by thinking of ways that she could get out, as well as trying to figure out a way to let Mac and Jack know where she was.

 _ **Hmmm...who is this new player? What's going to happen to Riley?**_

 _ **What did you guys think?**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Sorry guys, it's a shorter chapter today. Fighting a decently big headache, so I'm just trying to take things easy, but I wanted to get the chapter out :)**_

"Okay wait," Bozer said from the back of the van Thornton was driving. Mac looked back at his friend, not liking the tone of voice he had.

"What is it?"

"The phone stopped moving," Bozer replied, turning the screen towards Mac so that he could see for himself. Mac's mouth slanted in a line as he saw his friend was right.

"That means two things," he said. "They either found and ditched the phone, or they've reached their destination," he said.

"There aren't really any buildings around there they could hide in though," Thornton pointed out as she took a moment to glance over at the screen as well.

"So they ditched Mac's phone?" Bozer asked, his stomach sinking again. Instead of replying, Thornton simply pressed down on the gas harder, sending the vehicle they were in faster down the road.

"Okay," Bozer said a few minutes later. "The phone's signal stops just a few blocks north of here," he said. Thornton nodded and continued driving, and a few minutes later they came across a sight that had them all tensing in concern for their friend.

The van that had taken Riley away was lying on it's side, the back doors flung open, while Tanner and his crew were just starting to climb out, each one of them looking dazed and confused. Thornton threw their car into park and the three of them clambered out, not waiting for the other Phoenix agents who had been driving behind them. Mac got out of the car as well, and when he spotted Tanner he moved forward quickly, grabbing the thief by the front of his shirt and pulling him close.

"Where is she?" he asked, his voice almost a growl.

"Mac, step away," Thornton ordered as she approached. Mac looked like he wanted to protest, but a look from Thornton made him step away, releasing Tanner as he did so. Thornton moved forward and took Mac's place in front of Tanner, staring the man down. The other Phoenix agents gathered up the rest of Tanner's team, but MacGyver and Bozer went to search the van for any sign of their friend. They peered in the back of the van, and Mac felt the color drain from his face slightly.

"Thornton, she's not-" Mac began to call out, but Bozer stalked forward before Mac could finish his report and had slammed his fist into Tanner's cheek, snapping the man's head sideways.

"Bozer," Thornton snapped, warning the young man to stay away with another look, more intense than the one she'd given Mac. Bozer backed up, nursing his hand but still glaring at Tanner, clearly not regretting his decision.

"Where is she?" Thornton asked after making sure Bozer wasn't going to try and hit him again.

"I don't know," Tanner said, after spitting out a mouthful of blood. Bozer moved to step forward again, and Tanner held up his hands. "I can help you get her back though," he tried bargaining.

"Get her back?" Mac asked, indignation and anger seeping through his voice. "You're the one who took her in the first place! What do you mean 'get her back'?"

"Listen," Tanner panted, licking a bit of blood from his lip. "I was hired to steal that skeleton key," he explained. "I was planning on leveraging Riley for it, but it looks like the people who hired me were watching us. They blindsided us and by the time my crew and I got out, Riley was gone. My guess is they knew who she was to me, and they're going to use her to get to me like I was going to use her to get to you."

It was all Bozer could do not to hit the man again, and he could tell Mac was feeling the same way. Thornton's stern look stopped them though, but she turned her cold fury back on Tanner when the man scoffed. "You are going to come back with us, and you are going to tell us everything you know about the men that took Riley from you," she said to him with a voice Mac only heard her use when she was close to losing her cool, which the blond had only seen once. It was more than a little terrifying, but honestly, at that moment Mac just wanted to get Riley back.

"So what have you got to tell us?" Thornton asked in a hard voice as she allowed some Phoenix agents to come by and restrain Tanner's hands behind his back. Tanner looked at the three of them, and then over to his small group being rounded up by Phoenix agents.

"I swear, I don't know where they took her," he insisted. Thornton didn't break her intense stare as she answered.

"We'll start with something easy then," she compromised. "Who are they?"

"His name is Andrew Kuebler," Tanner finally relented.

"How does he know Riley?" Thornton asked. Tanner shook his head.

"He doesn't. He only knew about her because he researched me," he explained. "He does it with everyone he hires, just so he can have leverage on us if we mess up the job," he said. "My guess is he was coming to collect something else from me for leverage, but when he saw Riley and recognized her from the file he had, I guess he decided taking her would be the better option."

MacGyver wanted to say something, but before he could, Thornton shoved Tanner towards some of the other agents. "Get him back to the Foundation," she instructed. "Take him to Interrogation; I'll be there shortly." The men acknowledged their boss's orders and hauled Tanner off to one of the cars. Thornton turned to Bozer and Mac.

"We've got a name, let's see what we can do with that."

 _0-0-0_

Thornton had techs running Andrew Kuebler through any and all databases, trying to find anything about him that they could, and she told Mac and Bozer for the meantime they should try and get as much rest as they could.

"Mac, you've got a concussion," Thornton said when Mac opened his mouth to argue. "The only way I will even consider letting you come with us once we find out where Riley is is if you go get some rest right now," she informed him. Mac wanted to argue, but he knew arguing against Patricia Thornton was all but a lost cause. Also, if he had to admit it, he was feeling rather tired, and his head was killing him. He figured a nap wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. The doctor had checked him out again once they got back from retrieving Tanner, and she informed him that his pupils had gone back down to a more normal size, and she gave him permission to sleep. In fact, she ordered him to.

"Go," Thornton said when Mac continued to just stand there. "I'll let you know the minute we know anything," she promised. Mac hesitated a moment more, but finally nodded, heading off towards the medical part of the facility. Thornton hadn't told him where he was supposed to sleep. If he was going to rest, he was going to make sure he was by his friend so that Jack could wake up to a friendly face.

 _ **Again, sorry it's a shorter chapter, and no Riley...**_

 _ **Lemme know what you guys thought?**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Alright! Sorry this chapter is coming a little later than usual, I was actually showing my friends MacGyver, and they just left. They like it! We only got through the first two episodes, but they said they like it :D**_

 ** _So here's the next chapter, usual disclaimers apply. I don't own these guys, I don't make money off of this, yadda yadda yadda. ;)_**

The car rolled to a stop, and Riley heard the men talking as they opened their doors. They were saying something about someone named Andrew waiting inside, and then the back hatch was thrown open. Riley flinched as men reached in for her, lifting her out of the back of the SUV, though thankfully they seemed to finally notice her swollen knee, because they kept her off the ground this time. She thought about bucking and getting out of their arms, but she knew she wasn't going to be able to escape them with her knee in the condition it was, and it would only irritate the men if they had to chase her down. She figured that for the time being, she would play the part of a docile hostage.

She was carried into a large room and deposited on a leather chair, and she looked around. The room she was in was decked out with the latest tech stuff money could buy, though she had a sneaking suspicion that most of the equipment had been obtained by less than legal means. Riley knew if she could get over to one of the servers she'd be able to get a message out to her team, give them a signal to track. She wanted to try escaping on her own, but she knew her knee could barely take her weight while walking slowly; she knew it wouldn't support her if she tried to move at the speed she would need to be going in order to outrun the men holding her captive.

As she thought about her team, the memory of Jack having something injected into his body, as well as Mac taking several blows to his head as he tried to rescue her kept entering her thoughts. " _They're fine,"_ she tried assuring herself. " _They have to be."_

Some of the men who brought her in left, but two of them stuck around, probably to make sure that the young woman didn't try to do anything stupid.

"You guys wanna tell me what's goin' on?" Riley asked after a minute of silence. "Hey," she said, trying to grab their attention. "Who are you?"

"I think that should be fairly obvious," a greasy voice answered from behind her. Riley tried to peer over the top of the couch to see who had spoken, but the person she saw didn't match what she'd had in mind at all. "We're the ones who hired Tanner to steal back the skeleton key," he explained as he walked forward.

"Steal back? You're the one who created the skeleton key?" Riley asked skeptically, eyeing the man as he advanced.

"Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'don't judge a book by its cover,' Ms. Davis?" the man asked in his oily voice. He was probably just under six feet tall, but he had a paunch belly that hung out over his belt. His greasy white hair fell down to his shoulders, and his beard was scraggly and unkempt. Just looking at him made Riley shudder slightly.

"Sorry, have we met?" she asked, ignoring the man's question about books as she tried to keep the tremor of both pain and slight fear out of her voice. The newcomer walked around to the front of the chair, much to Riley's relief, because now she didn't have to strain herself to stare at the man.

"We haven't, but from the research I did on Tanner Anderson, I feel like I know you, at least a little bit," he replied. "Sorry, my name is Andrew Kuebler," he said. "I'd offer to shake your hand, but I figured that would be in poor taste," he added.

"Like mentioning it wasn't?" the young hacker muttered, rolling her eyes slightly. Andrew stared at her, but she met his gaze with defiance; she wasn't going to be intimidated by a man in his mid-forties with a potbelly who smelled like he hadn't showered in a hot minute. Basically she imagined that the man in front of her is what Jack would look like if he let himself go, stopped working out, and actually knew something about technology. Though, if Riley hadn't been told Andrew was the one who made the skeleton key, she wouldn't have pegged him as a techie either.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.

"Tanner knows how to get in contact with us; if he feels like giving me my key back in exchange for you, he'll get in touch," Andrew explained. "Until then, you just get to sit there lookin' pretty as all get-out," he said, his tone of voice and his gaze sending even more shudders through Riley, though his words did send a sense of realization through her; Andrew thought Tanner had gotten away with the key already, and he had grabbed her as insurance to make sure he got what Tanner promised he would deliver. Riley wasn't sure how she felt about that, but she had no doubt in her mind that Thornton had already caught Tanner and was currently trying to convince him to help. She figured the best she could do for the time being was to play along and pretend that Tanner had the key.

"Go take a long walk off a short cliff," Riley snapped. "Trust me, I don't mean anything to Tanner. He's not going to give up the key for me," she said. Andrew chuckled while Riley continued to glare at him.

"Is that right?" he asked. "Why'd he take you then? I think he cares more about you than you realize," Andrew said in an almost victorious voice.

"You're delusional," Riley shot at him, even though she knew Andrew was right; while she figured one of the reasons Tanner had grabbed her was to ransom her for the key, she also knew that he still had feelings for her, even though she'd broken up with him almost three years ago.

"You know, you're kinda cute when you get angry," Andrew observed. "Your nose gets all scrunched up, and it's adorable."

"You think I'm cute when I'm angry?" Riley seethed, pulling at her wrist restraints as she thought about getting ahold of the greasy man staring at her. "Get ready then, because I'm about to be gorgeous!"

Andrew laughed again, making Riley prickle even more. She hated feeling helpless like this, but she knew if she could get the men to not pay attention to her for a minute, she could try to get to the computers and send out a message. She just needed two minutes alone.

 _0-0-0_

A slow beeping entered his hearing, and soon Jack's eyes popped open. He looked around and recognized the familiar setting; he tried to remember how and why he'd been taken to the Phoenix Medical center, but his head was pretty fuzzy and it hurt to think. He sat up a little in bed and his eyes caught sight of his young partner sitting on one of the hard metal chairs, asleep. Jack felt a small twinge of sympathy; having been the one asleep in those chairs while Mac was the one in the hospital bed, he knew from experience that those chairs were not comfortable to sleep in at all.

Jack tried swallowing as he waited for Mac to wake up, and he winced. His throat was dry and scratchy, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what had happened. He remembered being grabbed by the people who had broken into the Foundation, but once Riley was brought in and he and Mac got out of their restraints, that's when his memory decided to play hooky. The rest was all bits and pieces, too jumbled for him to form a coherent memory. For some reason, his lungs felt like they were working double time whenever he drew a breath in, and he thought he remembered something about his breathing, but the memory was still just barely out of his reach.

He felt a nasal cannula running over his face into his nose, and he debated whether or not he should pull it out. Before he could make up his mind though, his partner began shifting on the seat, so Jack decided to wait for the young man to open his eyes. After a few more minutes, Mac's eyes did indeed open, and they locked with Jack's gaze.

"You're awake!" Mac said, sitting forward quickly before groaning and closing his eyes. Jack realized his friend must have gotten pretty banged up too, but he decided not to comment on how his friend was currently not residing in a bed, like Jack imagined the blond had been instructed to do. He instead chose to have his partner fill in the blanks.

"What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Mac asked as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"I remember everything up until we got out of our zipties, but after that it's all pretty foggy," Jack admitted.

"Well, you're right. We got free, but when you tried to go after Tanner and Riley, Tanner injected you with the stuff in the vial he had threatened us with earlier, and Riley was taken," Mac said, deciding to give the cliffsnotes version of the events that had transpired, and then go into more detail if Jack asked for it, which he was sure the older agent was going to.

"Okay, back up," Jack said, rubbing his face and dislodging the cannula slightly. "What do you mean Riley was taken?!" The words sounded like they should have rung bells, but try as hard as he could, Jack couldn't remember why or how their young partner had been taken out from under their noses.

"I don't know how much you remember from when she was first brought in, but it sounds like she and Tanner, the guy in charge, have some sort of a history, and once Bozer got the jammers down and called for help, he and his crew scampered. The only problem was that they took Riley with them," Mac explained.

"We gotta go after her," Jack said, moving like he was going to get up out of bed and go after the men who took her.

"Woah," Mac said, holding out his hands. "Calm down. We already got the people who broke in," he explained.

"You went after them without me?" Jack asked, actually sounding slightly cross. Mac cocked an eyebrow at his partner.

"To be fair, you did tell me to go get her back, and you were being treated for a poison that took away your ability to breathe," Mac defended. Jack didn't respond to his friend's logic.

"Is that what happened?" Jack asked, rubbing a sore spot on his arm. Suddenly the memory of the syringe being stabbed into his arm popped back into his head, and he winced. He pushed thoughts of his own pain aside though as he thought about Riley. "Where is she then?" he asked, looking out in the hallway as if expecting her to come waltzing into the room on cue. "You caught the men, right? Is she being treated for her knee?" he asked, remembering the swollen joint the young woman was sporting when she was dragged in.

"Things uh, weren't that easy," Mac said, rubbing his head lightly as it throbbed. "I managed to slip my cell phone into one of their bags as they were getting away, but when we tracked them down, they had been ambushed by the guys who hired Tanner. When we got to Tanner, he said that Riley was taken as leverage to get Tanner to finish the job he was hired to do," Mac explained regretfully. "We've got Tanner and his crew down in interrogation. Thornton's working at them right now, but before we even left the crash sight, Tanner gave us the name of the man who hired him. I think he cares more about Riley than we first thought," he added.

Mac's eyes widened as he watched Jack struggle to get out from under the sheets once again, pulling the pulse oximeter from his finger and trying to rip his IVs out.

"Jack, what do you think you're doing?" Mac asked incredulously, vaulting out of his chair to stop his friend, only to be stopped himself by a massive dizzy spell as he shifted positions too quickly.

Seeing his partner's consequences for trying to stop him, Jack paused for a moment. "I'm going to find out where Riley is," he said.

"How?" Mac grunted, keeping his head in his hands to try and stop the world from spinning.

"I'm gonna give interrogating that jerk Tanner a go," Jack said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Jack," Mac tried reasoning. "We already have the name of the guy who took her; Thornton said she'd tell me when they find anything," he assured his partner. Jack didn't look happy about it, but he seemed to give up trying to escape his bed for the moment, much to his partner's relief. Mac leaned back in his chair, grateful that the world had finally stopped spinning.

"What was Tanner here to steal anyways?" Jack asked after a moment of silence.

"Something along the lines of a skeleton key?" Mac said, still not entirely sure of that himself. It sounded familiar, but Mac knew he hadn't been on that retrieval team, so he only knew vague details.

"That's right," a new voice said from the doorway. Mac and Jack looked up to see Thornton coming into the room. "A few months ago, Phoenix got wind of a group of hacktivists who had managed to create a prototype skeleton key for any electronic device," she explained. "Agents were sent in and we retrieved it, but the hackers got away."

"I'm assuming you found something, since you're here?" Jack asked, reaching up to take his nasal cannula out.

"We did," she confirmed, holding up a photo of a middle-aged, cranky looking man. "This is Andrew Kuebler. He's the one who created the skeleton key, and we're currently running searches to try and find anywhere he might have taken Riley. We're going to see if Tanner is willing to cooperate and help us, but Jack," she added as she watched the agent. "I can't allow you to go," she said.

"Try and stop me," Jack replied. It wasn't a disrespectful tone, but it was a firm one. Jack stared Thornton down as he continued to unhook himself from the medical equipment as he continued talking. "You guys went after her without me once, and I understand why, but there's no way I'm staying behind again," he said. Mac studied his friend.

"Jack, I don't know if you're trying to prove something to Riley, but she knows you care about her," Mac said, trying to reassure his partner, trying to get him to stay behind. "You don't need to prove anything to her."

"You think that's what this is about?" Jack asked, looking at his partner with surprise. "I know I don't need to prove anything to her," he continued. "But I do care about her. There's no way I'm not coming with you to make sure she's kept safe," he insisted. Mac and Thornton looked at each other, and the blond sighed.

"The only way you're gonna keep him here is to sedate him," Mac said. Thornton huffed, but Jack interrupted.

"But you'd have to catch me to put my IV back in," he said. Mac and Thornton looked over to the older agent with slight incredulity in their eyes as they watched Jack pull the IV out of the back of his hand. "Ow, ow, ow, ow," he exclaimed, shaking his hand as the needle fell to the floor. Thornton's face deadpanned, and she rubbed the bridge of her nose as Jack stared defiantly at her, willing her to try and keep him down.

"There's no way I'm talking you out of this, is there?" she asked. "Neither of you are going to stay behind while we go find her?" she asked, glancing at Mac. She wanted him to stay behind as well, but she knew that while Riley was out there, neither one of these agents were going to rest more than a few minutes at a time if they had any say in the matter.

"No," came their simultaneous reply. She sighed again.

"Alright," she finally conceded. "Get ready. We make our play in ten minutes."

 _ **So yeah, Kuebler is a bit of a creep, but don't worry. Nothing bad happens.**_

 _ **So...thoughts? Whatcha guys think?**_

 _ **Also, I'm going out of town for the weekend, and while I will try to write, I probably won't be able to post anything until Monday or Tuesday night... :(**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hey guys, sorry. I know it's a few days later than I said, and it's a little shorter. It's been a little hard to get the motivation to edit/write things.**_

"Why should I do what you want me to do?" Tanner asked condescendingly. "I know what I broke into; this is a top-secret government think tank, and I've seen things that I'm probably not supposed to have seen, and even if I help bring Riley back, I'm almost positive you guys won't deal with me," he said, sitting back in his chair and holding his hand-cuffed hands out in a gesture that clearly stated that he wanted more than a 'thank you' if they wanted his help getting Riley back.

Thornton stared at the man coldly before leaning down and placing a disposable phone on the table. "You're right," she agreed. "There isn't going to be a deal. At least, not one that'll keep you out of prison," she added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tanner scoffed. Thornton glanced back at the door, where she knew Mac, Jack, and Bozer were waiting in the hallway.

"Out there are three people who care more for Riley than you ever could, and they're all itching to get their hands on something, or someone, to get their anger out on," she explained. "I can keep them out in the hallway if you agree to help, or I can leave the room for a few minutes to grab a drink of water," she offered. "I wouldn't put it past them to somehow get this door open once I leave, and if they get in here, they'll definitely convince you to cooperate," she threatened. Tanner didn't look scared, but he did look a little less obstinate as he glanced at the phone on the table, then over to the door leading out to the hallway where Jack, MacGyver, and Bozer were waiting. He finally sighed.

"What do you want me to do?"

Thornton pushed the phone towards his handcuffed hands. "Make the phone call. Tell Kuebler you have the key, and you'll give it to him if he gives you Riley back," she instructed.. "Set the meeting with him, and know that if you give us away and Riley is hurt because of it, those three men out there will be the least of your concern," she promised.

"Why?" Tanner asked, the attitude back in his voice. "Who knows if Kuebler will fall for that? He's smart. What makes you think I can pull the lie off?"

Thornton leaned in closer to him to make sure her point got across. "Because if you don't, or if you give anything away, you'll have me to answer to," she answered in a dangerously soft voice. Tanner stared up at her, and he could see the seriousness in the woman's eyes.

"Alright," he said, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "I'll do my best to convince Kuebler, and I won't tip him off."

Thornton sat back as Tanner picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Put it on speaker," she instructed. Tanner rolled his eyes, but he did as he was ordered.

"Anderson?" a voice answered after two rings.

"Give me Kuebler," Tanner said shortly the call was answered. He waited a few seconds, then another voice got on the line.

"Tanner," the voice greeted. It was a disgustingly slimy voice, but as Thornton thought back to the picture they'd found of Kuebler, she realized it actually fit him pretty well.

"Kuebler, I know why you took Riley," Tanner said. "But you didn't have to; I was going to give you the skeleton key anyway," he insisted.

"Then why'd you take your ex as well?" Kuebler asked condescendingly. "I know what she can do with electronics, so that makes me think, Tanner. Why would you take her unless you wanted to make her use the key for yourself?"

Tanner hesitated for a few seconds, glancing up at Thornton. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he began speaking again.

"Listen, okay, maybe I was going to have Riley pull a few strings for me with it, but I swear, it was always going to end up back with you," he promised.

"At least you had the courage to admit you were going to steal from me," Kuebler said smugly.

"So...you'll exchange Riley for the key?" Tanner asked, slightly hesitantly. There was about a ten-second wait on the other line as Thornton assumed Kuebler weighed his options before he finally spoke again.

"Yeah, I'll make the trade," he finally agreed. "Two conditions though," he added. Thornton let out a short, silent breath she'd been holding, and she nodded at Tanner, silently telling him to agree to the terms.

"What are they?"

"One, you come alone, obviously. Two, your fee has dropped fifteen percent."

Tanner's face twisted in anger, but one look from Thornton had him calming down; it wasn't like he was going to be getting the money anyway.

"Make a deal," Thornton mouthed. She knew if Tanner agreed too quickly, it would tip Kuebler off and let him know something wasn't right.

"Ten percent," Tanner argued.

"Thirteen," came Kuebler's counter.

"Eleven."

"Twelve percent is as much as I'm willing to compromise, Anderson," Kuebler said, his voice becoming edgy. "I'd think about your next words carefully," he cautioned.

"Deal," Tanner said after waiting for a few seconds, giving the impression that he'd carefully thought about the options before him. "Where do you want to meet?"

 _0-0-0_

Thornton walked out of the interrogation room, causing Mac, Jack, and Bozer to jump slightly. Mac and Jack winced as their wounds ached from the sudden movement.

"We got it," Bozer said excitedly. Thornton had requested that they run a trace on the call from the hallway, which had obviously been successful. They'd gotten a location, and now that Thornton was out of the interrogation room, the three of them were chomping at the bits to go.

"Good," Thornton replied. "Mac, Jack, you take a team of agents to the location Kuebler's phone pinged from; Bozer, you're coming with me, Tanner, and a few other agents to the meet point," she instructed. "We want to make sure we cover all bases. I don't trust Kuebler to keep his word about bringing Riley back."

The three men nodded, and Jack and MacGyver made their way down the hallway to assemble their team while Bozer turned to Thornton.

"Riley's gonna be okay," he said, though Thornton could tell he was trying to assure himself more than he was trying to assure her. Words spoken out loud usually held more meaning and weight than those words just kept in one's head, so Thornton understood why Bozer was muttering that everything was going to turn out alright.

 _0-0-0_

Kuebler hung up the phone and stared at it for a minute. He glanced over at Riley, who was watching him with a question in her eyes. "Seems like Tanner must still have a thing for you," he said with a smirk. "He made a deal to get you back. You for my key," he explained. "We're meeting up in fifteen minutes."

Riley knew that if Tanner was offering the key, it meant one of two things. One, he was bluffing and really was just trying to get Riley back, and would probably end up getting both of them killed. The second option was that Mac and Jack had caught Tanner and were pulling a sting op to get her back. She was going with the assumption that it was the second option.

At a signal from Kuebler, two of his men walked over and hauled Riley off the chair she had been deposited on, but instead of taking her towards the exit where the SUV she had been brought in was waiting, the men veered and headed for a door in the opposite direction.

"Wait, what?" Riley asked, jerking her arms to try and get away from the men holding her.

"I think I'm going to keep you just a little longer though," Kuebler explained as Riley tried fighting against the men holding her. "Just to make sure that Tanner keeps his word this time." He didn't mention the fact that he had some suspicions about the meeting.

Riley was yelling as she was set down on the cold cement floor of the new room, and she tried to push herself up, but her knee pulsated with pain and she fell back to the floor, her bound hands smacking the floor in frustration. She watched as the door was shut, and the last thing she saw as Kuebler's sadistic face shut the door were the blinking lights of the servers. The door was shut and Riley heard a lock click, and she sat back in frustration as she looked around, going through different ways she could help herself get around, as well as take care of whatever men left outside once she got the door open.

 _ **Thoughts? Like I said, it's shorter, and I feel like this chapter struggled a little.**_

 _ **Also, I'm going to try and updated again soon, but this week I've been spending every night with my sister, and I haven't had a ton of time to dedicate to writing.**_

 _ **Anyway. Let me know what you guys thought? And thanks for reading!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hey friends. Sorry, I know. I think this is the longest I've gone without updating a story of mine. I've just been feeling off, meaning I have like, no motivation whatsoever, and I've been struggling with this story for some dumb reason. So the chapter is a little longer tonight...Hope it kinda makes up for it?**_

 _ **I don't think I ever said thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story; it really really really means a lot to me :)**_

 _ **Characters are not mine**_

Riley looked around the room she had been thrown in, taking in everything. It looked like it was being used as a storage room; there was an old lamp in the corner, a dusty mattress, and several glass jars, some broken, some whole. The jars were sitting next to a large metal shelf, and Riley figured that that could be useful. She also spotted a glass pop bottle sitting next to the the shelf as well, though it was completely empty, and Riley didn't pay much attention to it. Suddenly, her heart began pounding as her eyes fell on an old laptop sitting on the floor a few feet away from the mattress. She knew that if she could get to it, she wouldn't have to use the servers outside her door; she could just send for help from the laptop. The only problem was that now she had to find a way to get to it.

There was an old computer chair sitting in the corner; the seat left quite a bit to be desired, but Riley knew she couldn't be picky. It was a way for her to get around, and she wasn't about to turn her nose up at that. She grit her teeth as she placed her bound hands on the ground to the side of her and then twisted her body to follow her hands so that she was in an almost-push-up position. From there, she used her good leg to push herself into a quasi-downward dog and moved forward, keeping her weight off her bad leg until she reached the wall next to the chair, which was where she finally straightened up.

She got a slight headrush as she straightened, but it passed quickly, and she used the wall to support herself as she hopped on one leg over to the chair. She sat down, almost sighing in relief as the small amount of pressure was taken off her leg, but she decided to wait to celebrate anything until she could get out of her current prison. Using her good leg, she propelled herself over to the mattress, stopping by the shelf on her way. She bent over and picked up a glass jar and a metal bar from the shelf, knowing she was going to need something to cut the bonds from her wrists with.

She wheeled herself the rest of the way over to the mattress. It took a bit of work, but she was finally able to set the jar down, and she managed to lift the mattress over so that it was covering the jar. Once she was sure the glass object was underneath the large mattress, she jabbed the metal bar down. There was a muffled _crack_ , and she jabbed downwards once more to make sure that there would be a piece big enough for her to use.

She bent down and lifted the mattress up, happy to see that there were several large pieces of glass that she could use. The only problem was that she realized if she was holding up the mattress, she couldn't reach down to get the shards of glass. She thought for a minute, then moved the chair around so that her good leg was against the mattress, and she let the heavy piece of bedding fall onto her good leg while she bent in half to retrieve one of the larger pieces of glass. Once she had the glass in her hands, she pushed off the ground with her good leg and sent the chair wheeling away from the mattress, allowing it to fall back to the floor to cover the rest of the glass shards.

She twisted the piece of glass she'd grabbed around in her hands until she was able to begin sawing at the bindings. She winced slightly when she nicked her palm, but she kept going, even though the wound began to bleed a little. Finally the zip tie snapped, and she immediately dropped glass on the ground, rubbing at her wrists to get the circulation moving again.

Her wrists had deep red marks on them from where the tie had cut into her skin too tightly, but as soon as she began to massage her wrists, they started itching and aching, not used to the sudden flow of blood. Once her hands had a little bit of feeling left in them, she wiped her injured hand on her black jeans, keeping a bit of pressure on it to make sure it stopped bleeding. The cut wasn't deep, but it was bleeding more than she thought it would, and she didn't want to have any distractions while trying to get away.

As she was waiting for her hand to stop bleeding, she looked at the door. It had what looked like a simple doorknob with an average lock on it, and she smirked. She bent down and picked up the laptop, but when she opened it up, a cracked screen and a keyboard with a dozen missing keys is what greeted her. She groaned as she realized she wouldn't be able to use this to get in contact with her friends, but even though she felt like yelling in frustration, Mac and Jack's favorite word came to her mind:

 _Improvise._

 _0-0-0_

"Stay sharp, and be on the lookout for Riley Davis," Thornton instructed the men around her, pushing a stray clump of bangs from her face. She turned to Bozer, who was looking at her expectantly, awaiting orders. "Bozer, you-"

"You're not gonna bench me," he stated. Thornton stared at him with her eyebrow raised. He backed down slightly. "You don't know how many guys there are gonna be," he tried arguing.

"I don't feel comfortable with how little field experience you have," she said.

"How am I gonna get any field experience if you're always keeping me behind?" Bozer asked, raising a good point. Thornton stared at him with a calculated and trained eye.

"Fine," she finally agreed, partially because she knew they needed to keep an eye on Tanner, who was getting ready for the meet, and she didn't have time to argue with Bozer, but also because she knew Bozer had a point. "You don't have to stay here, but you have to stay behind me," she instructed.

"Yes ma'am," Bozer replied, saluting.

"You need to do what I say, Bozer," she said, trying to convey to him how serious she was. Bozer nodded in similar seriousness.

"I will," he promised. Thornton still seemed slightly hesitant, but she'd made her decision and she was going to stick with it.

"Let's go."

 _0-0-0_

MacGyver and Jack rode in silence, occasionally glancing down at the GPS to make sure they were going in the right direction. The other Phoenix agents coming with them were in the car behind them.

Jack glanced sideways at Mac just in time to notice the younger man wince as they went over a rather large pothole. He thought about saying something, but he knew that Mac would only try to turn the conversation on Jack and his injuries, so he kept quiet for the moment.

The GPS instructed Jack to turn right at the next intersection, but when the agent did, it was a little more sharp than he was planning, and he heard Mac's breath hitch for a moment. "Sorry," Jack said. There was no reply from Mac, and Jack decided it was time to bring up the injury subject. "Do you wanna take somethin' for the pain?" he asked. He knew they had some Tylenol or something somewhere in the car, but before he could remember where he'd thrown it after the last time he used it, Mac shook his head slowly.

"I'm good," he said. Jack gave him a sideways skeptical look. "I took a couple Advil before we left. It was the only way the doctor would let me leave," Mac explained with a chuckle. Jack smiled; he could imagine exactly how that conversation would have gone.

He glanced down at the speedometer; he knew he should slow down a little, but he also knew that the faster they could get to the place Kuebler's phone had dinged from, the faster they could find out where Riley was. He eased up on the gas a little, but didn't put the brake on at all.

Finally, after another fifteen minutes of driving, the GPS said their destination was a thousand feet in front of them on their right. Mac and Jack looked at each other, not needing to speak in order to communicate to each other to be careful as they got out of their car. They were in a pretty rural part of town, meaning that no one else was around.

"Stay alert," Jack instructed to the agents. "We don't know who's in there, and we don't know if Riley was actually taken to the meet point. Make sure you know what or who you're aiming at before you shoot, if you have to shoot," he said. After making sure everyone understood, Jack brought his own gun out of its holster. "Well then. Let's go."

 _0-0-0_

Riley scooted her chair closer to the door, holding the broken laptop on her lap. She'd bandaged her injured hand with a strip of cloth cut from her shirt, thanks to the shard of glass, and it had finally stopped bleeding. She'd also grabbed the old lamp from the its place by the mattress and set it on the ground next to her chair. She made sure she was in position before she began yelling.

"Hey," she called out. "There's no bathroom in here!" She waited a moment, wondering if the men guarding the room were going to react. "I'm serious," she called out in warning. She waited for another moment, and when she still got no reaction, she opened her mouth to yell again, but paused when she finally heard footsteps coming towards the door.

A key was inserted into the lock and she scooted her chair away from the door quickly, raising the laptop in preparation. The door slowly swung open, and as soon as a head appeared, she brought the laptop down with a solid _thud_ , dropping the man to the ground. Once the computer made contact with the guard's head, it broke, and she quickly dropped the pieces as the man fell. She picked up the lamp on the ground and turned to swing it as the other guy came in, but his reflexes were faster than her swing, and he caught her wrists before the lamp could connect. Riley tried to yank her hands out of his grip, but he simply tightened his hands and shook her a little, dislodging the lamp from her hands. The item crashed to the floor and shattered into a million pieces.

She struggled against the grip the guard had her in, but even though she'd had the element of surprise, he had the advantage of being larger than her, and he maintained his hold on her wrists.

"You didn't honestly think that we didn't suspect something, did you?" the man asked condescendingly.

"Your friend doesn't seem to agree with that train of thought," Riley shot back, indicating the guard she'd managed to clock over the head with the laptop. She tried pulling her hands away again, but it was a futile attempt; the man's hands were like vices around her wrists. The guard was about to answer, but there was a loud crash and suddenly there was yelling coming from outside the room they were in.

The guard glared at Riley, and before she could do anything, he had switched her wrists over to one hand and wrapped his elbow around her neck. He dragged her out of the room, making her gag slightly as her airway was cut off. The pressure on her neck decreased slightly as the guard stopped moving, but it was still tight enough that Riley had a hard time moving. Once they exited the room, Riley turned her attention to the area where the yelling was coming from. She felt a sense of relief as she realized the men fanning around the room were Phoenix agents, and in the center of them stood Jack and MacGyver.

Riley noticed that both of them looked a little worse for wear; Jack almost looked like he shouldn't even be on his feet, but the young woman was grateful nonetheless to see them. She wasn't sure what Jack had been injected with, but whatever it was looked like it had done a number on him. Mac had several bruises on his face, and his lip was slightly swollen around the corner.

Jack was holding his gun out in front of him, but Mac, unsurprisingly, was unarmed. As soon as the guard stepped out of the room, Mac and Jack's eyes were immediately drawn to the movement, and Jack's gun was immediately pointed towards the man holding Riley. The young hacker's captor shifted her so that she was in front of him, meaning that if Jack were to shoot, he'd hit the young woman. The guard also kicked the door closed and backed against the door so that none of the other Phoenix agents would be able to sneak up on them from behind.

"Let's talk about this," Jack tried coaxing, though Riley had an inkling that Jack had no intention of merely talking if he had his way.

"No," the guard spat. "You try anything, make a move towards me, try and disarm me, anything, and your friend here pays the price," he threatened, tightening his grip on Riley's neck slightly. "And no phones either," the man snapped, seeing Mac reach slowly for his pocket. MacGyver moved his hand away from his pocket and put his hands in the air, not wanting to agitate the man any further.

Jack was looking at the pair in front of him, trying to find a way to get RIley free, but he knew he didn't have a clear shot. Riley noticed him looking, and she knew he wouldn't take the shot if she was in the way, so she squirmed to the side slightly as the men stood there talking. To anyone looking, it appeared that she was simply trying to get as far away from the man holding her as she could, but thanks to Jack's Delta training and instincts, he could tell she was trying to give him a clean shot to the man's leg. He glanced sideways at Mac, who still had his hands up, and the blond gave him a small nod.

Jack's mouth set in a line, and he quickly turned his gaze back towards Riley and the man holding her. Riley was staring at him, and behind the pain in her eyes, Jack saw a flash of confidence. He knew he could make that shot in his sleep, but seeing the confidence in the young woman's eyes just made him all the more sure of himself.

"Listen," Jack said, not moving forward but not taking his eyes off the pair in front of him. "Just give us Riley. You're not going anywhere, and it will only get worse for you if you don't cooperate."

The guard hesitated for a split-second, and in that moment, Jack reacted. He aimed the gun and pulled the trigger, barely blinking at the loud gunshot. Riley's guard yelled in pain and dropped to the ground, letting go of Riley as he fell. The young woman stood there for a moment, wobbling slightly as she balanced on one leg before she began to topple over. MacGyver and Jack were at her side in a split-second, supporting the young woman as they lowered her to the floor.

"There's a chair in there," Riley said, indicating the room she and the guard had come from. Mac stood up and opened the door, spotting the chair Riley was talking about instantly. He wheeled it out, and when Jack saw his partner moving the chair, he helped Riley get to her feet and into the chair.

Once the young woman was situated, Mac pulled out his phone and hit a number. He put the phone up to his ear and waited, half-listening as Jack questioned Riley about where she was injured.

"Thornton," Mac said once his boss picked up. "We've got Riley." There was silence for a few seconds, then Mac's face drained of color as Thornton replied. "What do you mean Kuebler never showed?"

 _0-0-0_

Thornton and Bozer watched Tanner walk towards the meet point. Something wasn't setting right in Thornton's gut, but before she could do anything, someone stepped out of the shadows and walked towards Tanner.

Bozer shifted slightly as he looked around, trying to see if Riley was in the area, but the young woman was nowhere in sight.

"That's not Kuebler," Bozer whispered suddenly. Thornton nodded. As soon as the man had stepped out, she knew it wasn't the man they were expecting. One look at the man walking towards Tanner had confirmed Thornton's suspicion that something was wrong.

"Hold your position," she murmured to her team through the comms. "Wait to see if Kuebler shows."

"Anderson," everyone heard the stranger call out to Tanner.

"Where's Riley?" Tanner asked sharply.

"Andrew thought he'd keep her behind, just as an extra insurance policy. Give us the key, and you'll get a text with a location where you can pick her up," the man explained.

"Where's Kuebler?" Tanner demanded.

"He sends his apologies, but he decided that he didn't want to deal with a thief personally. He said he definitely wanted you to take it personally."

Thornton could almost hear her agents shifting as they realized Kuebler probably wasn't anywhere nearby. "Hold," she muttered. "We don't know if he's hidden somewhere."

"Where's the key?" the stranger asked. Tanner grit his teeth.

"The deal was Kuebler comes with Riley, and then he gets the key," Tanner responded, trying to buy time. "I don't see him _or_ Riley."

"You don't have it, do you?" the man accused, realization dawning on his face. "You never did!"

"Move in," Thornton instructed. She didn't care if Kuebler's team now knew Tanner wasn't alone. Their op was in jeopardy, and even though Tanner was a thief and the reason for the whole mess in the first place, Thornton couldn't stand by and watch him be killed.

The Phoenix team moved in, coming out of the shadows and from behind corners. The man confronting Tanner looked surprised at the sudden amount of people, and he tried runing, but he turned right into one of the Phoenix agents, who grabbed and restrained the man's hands behind his back.

"Make sure he was alone," Thornton instructed as she moved towards their prisoner. "And restrain Anderson." She was so focused that she barely heard the 'Yes ma'am' from her team. She strode up to the newcomer, who was struggling against the men holding him.

"You can't hold me," he kept repeating. "You've got nothing to hold me on!"

"Where is Riley Davis, and where is Andrew Kuebler?" Thornton asked, ignoring the man's insistence that they had nothing on him.

"I don't know who you're talking about," the man replied contemptuously. Thornton's eyes narrowed slightly, but before she could do anything, her phone began vibrating. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw Mac's name on her screen.

"Mac," she answered.

"Thornton," Mac greeted. "We've got Riley."

"That's great Mac," Thornton replied. "Unfortunately, my news isn't as good. Kuebler isn't here. He never showed."

"What do you mean Kuebler never showed?"

"I mean he sent someone else to the meeting point. I have agents searching the area around here, but so far we've got no sign of him." She waited a few seconds for Mac to reply, but the other end remained silent. "Mac?" There was still no answer, and the sinking feeling returned. "MacGyver, is something wrong?"

There was a beeping in her ear suddenly, and she look at the screen. Her stomach sank further when she saw that her call had been disconnected. She happened to glance over and saw Bozer staring at her, and she could see in his eyes that he knew something was wrong.

"We need to get to Mac and Jack's location now."

 _ **So there's that... Again, I don't know how long it will be before the next chapter is up. I'm going to try to make it only two or three days, but for some reason I've suddenly got a lot of people wanting to hang out with me... *eyes narrow in suspicion***_

 _ **Anyway. I don't know how good this chapter was...I've hit that point of the story where things just don't seem good or cool to me anymore, but that's because I've been working on it for so long, so I figured I'd post what I have, and hopefully you like it?**_

 _ **There should only be two or three chapters left after this, so the story is definitely coming to a close soon...but worry not! I've got like, two other retellings, a one-shot (that's almost finished), and several original story ideas working around in my brain, so there will be more coming, I promise :)**_

 _ **Anyway, sorry again for the wait, and for the long blabbering AN. You guys are seriously the best! *hugs***_

 _ **Lemme know what you thought!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Woo! It wasn't a week between updates! I think my motivation is all back, so I'm super stoked!**_

 _ **Also, as a side note, I just made buttermilk pie, and it's delicious! Lol I did accidentally set off the smoke alarm though... it didn't burn, it just gets really smokey when it cooks for some reason, so that was a fun three minutes -_- but it's delicious, so it was so worth it!**_

 _ **Anyway, this is the last chapter...It's kinda bittersweet for me, because I love writing, but I'd gotten frustrated with this story more than I have with most of my stories, so I'm also kinda glad it's done? Idk. But yeah! Here's the last chapter!**_

 _ **Characters are not mine.**_

"Thornton?" Mac asked. The call had gone silent after she said Kuebler sent someone else to the meeting point, and when he checked his phone, he saw that the call had been dropped.

"What's up?" Jack asked as he watched the Phoenix agents haul the two guards to their feet and begin walking with them towards the door leading outside where they were parked. "Hey guys," Jack called out to the agents, making them pause and look back at him. "Stay here another minute," he instructed. He didn't know what was going on, but something told him that he would want to keep as many people around as he was able to.

"My call with Thornton just dropped," Mac explained, trying to call her back. He kept getting screeching noise every time he tried placing a call, and when he tried sending a text it immediately failed to send. "Hey, could you check your phone?" he requested.

Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket with one hand while he kept one hand on the back of the chair Riley was on. "I got nothin'," Jack replied after he tried sending a text as well. "What was Thornton saying about Kuebler?"

"She said he never actually showed up at the meet. He sent someone else and never came."

"So the scumbag never actually left here," Jack surmised as he slipped his phone back in his pocket and drew his gun in one fluid motion.

"And he's jamming the cell signals," Riley agreed.

"We need to figure out where he is," Jack said. "But we need to be careful about it." Jack was confident that if they could figure out where Kuebler was hiding, they'd be able to take him down with no problem whatsoever. The only problem was that he'd only brought three other agents with them, and two of them were holding onto the two men who'd been guarding Riley. That left one man besides Mac and Jack, and Jack knew someone needed to stay with Riley. "Do you have any idea where he could be?" Jack asked as he glanced at Riley.

The young woman shook her head. "I wasn't invited on a tour of the place," she said drily. She suddenly got an idea, and she glanced over at the servers Kuebler had set up. "Though, I may be able to find him," she said as she wheeled the chair over to the equipment. Jack followed behind her while MacGyver wandered into the room Riley had been kept in earlier, trying to find anything to help them.

Riley cracked her neck in both directions before she placed her fingers on the keyboard. She began typing at a rapid pace, and soon the tapping of the keys became one blurred sound instead of an individual tapping noise. "Come on," Riley muttered as she stared at the screen in front of her. Whatever Kuebler was using to block the cell signals was something similar to the jammers Tanner had used at the Phoenix earlier, though not exactly. Riley figured since she hadn't seen any jammers lying around when she was first brought in, Kuebler was using something like a tablet to run a similar jamming program, and like Riley had told Bozer, there was an electronic was to find them. Now that she didn't have to explain it and she had access to some wicked tech, she didn't think she'd have a hard time finding Kuebler.

"What are you thinkin', Ri?" Jack asked.

"Whatever Kuebler's using is more than likely putting off a signal of its own, whether it's strong or not," she explained, translating to Jack-speak as she went along. "If I can isolate that signal, it should tell us exactly where he is, and we won't have to play 'find the narcissistic maniac' completely in the dark."

"Okay, I like the sound of that," Jack agreed. "How long is that gonna take-"

"Got it," Riley said, cutting Jack's question off. Jack looked impressed, even though he didn't have any doubts in his mind that she'd be able to do it. "He's...wait," she said, squinting at the screen.

"What? Wait for what?" Jack asked. "I thought you said you had him!"

"I did, or at least, I thought I did," Riley said. "He's got his signal bouncing off these servers, making it look like he could be anywhere in the building," she explained in frustration. "He keeps bouncing the signal, and it's really hard to pin down where he is."

"Really hard? Not impossible?" Jack asked hopefully. Riley paused her typing to give him a deadpanned stare.

"No, it's not impossible," she assured him.

"Good," Jack said as he shuffled around, not wanting to stay still for too long. The other agents were looking around as well, making sure no one was coming from any direction.

"He's masking himself using a bunch of dummy signals, which masks the real signal," Riley muttered, partially to Jack, but mostly just processing what was going on outloud. "Well, let's try getting rid of those shields." She jabbed at a few more keys and then hit "enter," watching the screen intently. "I think I got him," she said.

"You think?" Jack asked. "I dunno if we have time for guesswork, Ri."

"I'm almost positive that's him," she said. "According to this, he's just down the street. Less than two blocks away. If I had to guess, I would say that he's somewhere within this radius," she said as she motioned to a section on the screen. Jack shuddered as he realized Riley was pointing to right where they'd parked their cars. He and Mac must have walked right past Kuebler when they were coming towards the building.

"Okay, so now we just go get him. Nothin' to it," Jack said finally.

"Jack, you need to stay here with Riley," Mac said as he came out of the room. He was carrying a dozen or so thin wires that he was straightening, along with a glass bottle. He was also sticking what looked like stuffing into his pockets. "I'll go out and get Kuebler."

"First of all, what is all of that?" Jack asked, pointing to the items his friend was carrying. "Second, I can't let you go out there alone Mac! You need backup," Jack insisted, though he didn't necessarily want to leave Riley alone.

"These are springs from the bed that I've straightened out, stuffing, which is also from the mattress, and an old pop bottle. Second, you stay here with Riley," Mac repeated, sensing his friends hesitancy. "I'll take Jeffries with me," he added, motioning to the third Phoenix agent that had come with them.

"You sure?"

"Yeah Jack," Mac said reassuringly. "I'm sure."

With that, the blond turned and walked towards the door leading outside, Jeffries following closely behind. Jack watched his partner leave with slight apprehension on his face, but he forced himself to relax. Mac had saved both of their butts more times than he could count; the kid could take care of himself and anyone with him.

"Hold on a minute," Jack muttered to Riley. The young woman hardly acknowledged the comment, seeing as how she was still staring at the screen.

Jack hurried up to Jeffries, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," he said quietly. Mac had already gone out the door, and Jack knew the blond would notice soon if Jeffries didn't come out, but Jack had something he had to tell Mac's temporary partner.

 _0-0-0_

Mac and Jeffries stuck to the shadows, walking close to the building as they crept along. Their comms and cell phones obviously didn't work, so Mac was working off what Riley had told him.

As they neared where Riley said Kuebler was probably hiding, Mac held out his hand to stop Jeffries from moving forward. He didn't say anything, not wanting to give their position away, but he needed time to finish his creation. He had been twisting and bending the springs into different positions, and he finally needed to pause so he could put the final pieces together.

Two of the separate wires he had bent in half, forming a loose, "n" looking shape. He stuck both of those pieces together to form a complete "m," and twisted the middle parts together so the shape would stick. He then wrapped the humps of the "m" around the neck of the bottle, forming complete circles. He whipped out his pocket knife and pulled out the pliers, twisting the far ends of the "m" so that they were curved slightly upward, and then he did the same thing with the middle part. Once that was done, the blond took one of the last springs and created a crosshairs, which he then wound around the middle wires.

"What is that?" Jeffries whispered quietly as he watched MacGyver work. His brow wrinkled in confusion as Mac pulled his shoelaces and attached them to the slightly-curved wires, and suddenly Jeffries realized that Macgyver had just made a crossbow out of bed springs and a shoelace.

"A distraction," Mac answered just as quietly.

"A distraction?" Jeffries asked, trying to keep his skepticism to a minimum. Mac didn't bother answering; he simply reached into his pocket and pulled out the stuffing from the mattress.

He took the last few straightened springs and stuck them through the stuffing, completely covering the metal.

"Now what are you doing?" Jeffries asked. Mac held back a sigh.

 _Even though Jack doesn't understand the science behind what I do usually, at least he trusts me to get the job done...mostly._

"Well, I need something to fire as the distraction, don't I? Fire usually does a pretty good job, right?" Mac asked. Jeffries nodded in understanding and agreement, and Mac proceeded to load the stuffing-coated spring into the crossbow. "Okay," Mac said. "In one minute, I need you to use this lighter and light the stuffing on fire, then aim the crossbow and shoot in that general direction," Mac said, handing Jeffries a lighter and pointing at where he was about to go.

"Wait," Jeffries hissed. "I don't feel comfortable letting you go alone."

"Why?" Mac asked. "I'm capable of taking care of myself," he assured his temporary partner. Jeffries looked slightly embarrassed, and Mac had a sneaking suspicion he knew what was wrong. "Did Jack say something before we left?" he asked.

Jeffries' silence was the only confirmation Mac needed, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I promise I'll stay safe, and I'll keep Jack from doing anything to you if he finds out I went on my own," he promised. Jeffries didn't look super excited about the idea, but he didn't protest again, and Mac was relieved he didn't have to fight his temporary partner anymore. Mac put the finishing touches on the crossbow before he turned and faced Jeffries again.

"Once you fire that, feel free to follow me," he said. "But one request?" he asked. Jeffries raised his eyes. "Only use your gun as a last resort," Mac requested before he turned and snuck off towards Kuebler. Jeffries wanted to call out and tell the young agent that he was crazy for not wanting to use a gun himself, but he refrained. He didn't want Kuebler alerted to their location, or tipped off that someone was coming for him, and he'd heard of Mac's odd dislike for guns. He didn't understand it, but Jeffries also knew the blond's track record, and he figured if Mac could get the drop on him fast enough, a gun wouldn't really be necessary.

 _0-0-0_

Mac hurried along, occasionally glancing at his watch in the dim light of the flickering street lamps. He had a little less than thirty seconds before Jeffries was supposed to fire the flaming mattress stuffing, and he had just spotted Kuebler. The man was sitting on a bench in the shadows, and the only reason MacGyver spotted him was because of the faint glow coming from the tablet in the man's hands. Mac checked his watch again; fifteen seconds left. He snuck up behind Kuebler as close as he dared and waited the last few seconds. After what seemed like minutes, but was really only a few seconds late, a flaming projectile flew through the air and landed in a smoking heap a few feet away from Kuebler.

Mac took a split-second to be impressed with his DIY crossbow; he hadn't known if it was actually going to fire as far as he wanted it to. He only had that split-second though, because as soon as Kuebler stood up and jumped back, startled by the sudden heat source.

MacGyver saw his opportunity and took it as he sprung from his hiding place towards the distracted Kuebler. He ignored his body's protests at the sudden movement, knowing the element of surprise was one of the best allies a person could have.

He rammed his shoulder into Kuebler's back, shoving the man and making him drop his tablet on the ground, cracking the screen in several places. Kuebler let out a string of curses as he turned to face MacGyver, immediately throwing a wild punch towards the blond. Mac ducked as the blind swing actually came rather close to his head.

"Not again," he muttered, not really wanting to get hit in the head or face anymore. His eyes widened though as he ducked the first punch, only to be tossed over the bench like he weighed nothing. He tumbled over the hard metal bench and collapsed hard on the ground with a wheeze, his hand automatically going to his sore ribs as he tried to roll over to get up. He heard a yell, and as he turned his head, he caught a glimpse of Kuebler's greasy face right before the man was on top of him, hands closing around Mac's neck and cutting off his airway.

"You really think I was so stupid that I didn't have security set up to alert me when someone breaches the perimeter?" Kuebler asked in a mocking tone. Mac tried prying the man's hands off his throat, but he was still slightly in shock from the tumble over the bench, and he was unable to get free.

 _Where is Jeffries?_

"Let go of him and put your hands on your head," a commanding voice called out.

 _Ah. There he is._

There was the sound of a gun cocking when Kuebler made no move to follow the orders he'd been given. "I said let him go," Jeffries repeated sternly. MacGyver could hear the voice was above and behind him, meaning Jeffries was standing somewhere above Mac's head.

"You really think I'm scared of what some government think-tank employees will do to me?" Kuebler scoffed. "You look like a security guard who hasn't seen enough fighting and thinks he's ready to pull the trigger on someone."

"That's where you're wrong," Mac croaked. Kuebler looked at him in slight confusion. MacGyver smirked as he continued. "We're not from a think-tank." Before Kuebler could comment or make a retort, Mac swung his legs up, bringing them around the front and wrapping them around Kuebler's neck, using the momentum from the action to propel himself upwards. Soon, he and Kuebler found their roles reversed; Kuebler was on his back and MacGyver was the one over him.

Kuebler struggled under MacGyver, but Jeffries had rushed forward as soon as Mac moved, and he put his hand on Mac's shoulder, letting the blond know he was there. The two of them traded spots, Jeffries kneeling down and flipping Kuebler over before restraining his hands behind his back while MacGyver straightened up and took a few steps back, rubbing his side. He wasn't positive, but it definitely felt like his spleen was bruised.

"Mac!" he heard a familiar voice yell. He turned and saw Bozer hurrying over to them as fast as he could, Thornton following closely behind.

"Gentle, Boze, gen-tle," Mac said, getting slightly cut off as his friend collided into him with a hug.

"Sorry," Bozer said as he released his friend and backed away. "You're okay though?" he asked as he looked his friend up and down.

"More or less," Mac replied. He looked at Thornton as he addressed her. "Riley and Jack are in that building," he said, waving his hand backwards towards the building he and Jeffries had come from.

"No we're not," Jack's voice came from behind. Mac turned too quickly and winced in pain, but he did indeed see Jack and Riley coming towards him. Jack was pushing Riley in the computer chair, and a little ways away, Mac could see the two guards being shuffled to the SUVs parked out front.

"Our phones started working again," Jack explained as they finally reached their friends. "We figured that meant you had gotten to Kuebler and it was safe to come out." Jack stopped and looked at his friend. "Dang Mac, you look terrible."

MacGyver chuckled, wincing again as the laughter jostled his sore ribs. "Thanks, Jack," the blond drawled. "I thought I was looking in a mirror until you spoke. Now I know that we're both just as beat up as we were earlier."

"You only wish you were looking in a mirror," Jack quipped, pretending to preen. Riley scoffed and Jack looked down at her. "Hey now," he said. "I am very handsome, and I know that Mac hopes one day he can look as good as I do at my age."

"Suuuure," Riley said, squinting her eyes in skepticism at the older man as she looked up at him from her improve wheelchair.

"I'm glad you're all safe," Thornton said. "But before we do much celebrating, someone should probably put out that...whatever that is," she finished, pointing to the flaming mattress stuffing on the ground. Bozer jumped and immediately began stomping on it. It didn't take long to put it out; it was mostly smoldering anyway. Thornton just didn't want it catching fire again.

"What on earth was that?" Jack asked incredulously. All eyes turned to MacGyver, who offered a small, innocent-looking grin.

"Why does no one recognize a distraction when they see one?"

 _0-0-0_

"Heeeey, there she is!" Jack said as Riley walked through the door, her knee in a brace and using one crutch to support herself.

"Here I am," she said with a grin, holding up a case of drinks in her free hand.

"Here," Bozer offered, taking the drinks from the young woman.

"Thanks, Bozer," Riley said as she hopped over to the couch, plopping down on the other side of MacGyver.

It had been thirty-six hours since the break-in at the Foundation, and Mac and Jack had argued about being put back in a hospital bed. Thornton had finally thrown her hands up in frustration and told them that she wouldn't make them stay in the medical center if they promised to go home and not do anything strenuous until their next mission, which was in a little over four days.

"You doin' okay?" Jack asked as Riley settled down. Riley nodded, but Jack could see there was slight hesitancy in the movement. "It's okay to be shaken," he assured the young woman. "I think if my ex showed up and kidnapped me, and then I was kidnapped again, I'd just sit at home curled up in a ball," he said. Riley chuckled. She knew that wasn't something Jack would actually do, but she appreciated the fact that he was trying to make her feel better, so she decided not to call him on his BS.

"Thanks, Jack," she said. "I'm doing okay," she promised. Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't say I was 100% awesome," she defended. "But I'm not at home curled up in a ball, am I?"

"Touche," Jack said, raising his hands in surrender and backing off. Bozer came out of the kitchen and handed everyone drinks that Riley had brought before sitting down in one of the armchairs himself.

"So I just talked with Thornton," Mac said, sitting up from his reclined position slowly.

"And?" Riley asked quickly.

"Kuebler and Tanner have both been transported to a government holding facility. They're not going to be bothering anyone for a long time," he promised. Riley felt relief wash over her, and she took a sip of the drink in her hand.

"Are there any other psycho ex-boyfriends that we need to know about?" Jack asked as he popped his own drink open.

"For me? Nah, the rest of them are spineless and harmless," Riley promised. "Although, there was this one guy my mom dated who is a little crazy…" she trailed off, smirking at Jack.

"Oh haha, very funny," Jack drawled, refraining from shoving her to avoid injuring her further. Riley kept the smirk on her face, and the two of them continued bantering, while Bozer threw in his own comments every now and then.

Mac listened to his friends argue, and the only thing he could think of was how grateful he was that everyone was safe. He had been seriously worried about everyone, especially Riley and Jack. Thankfully, the doctors said that both of them would recover just fine; Riley just needed some physical therapy for her knee, and Jack needed to avoid strenuous activity for a few days, but they were assured that everyone would return to normal.

Mac noticed the talking had died down, and everyone was staring at him. "What?" he asked, realizing they must have asked him something.

"I was just pointing out that we never got to see that movie," Jack explained. "I think we should go see it right now!"

"And I think he's crazy!" Bozer cut in. "You were told to rest," he reminded Jack.

"What's gonna happen at the movie theaters, Bozer?" Jack asked incredulously. MacGyver looked at Riley.

"What do you think?" he asked. The young woman shrugged.

"I'm okay with anything," she said. "Going to a movie does sound fun though," she added as an afterthought.

"Mac, please back me up on this!" Bozer begged. Mac shrugged.

"Sorry Bozer, you're outnumbered," Mac apologized. "I think it's a good idea."

Jack fistpumped the air, being careful to avoid hitting anyone. Bozer sighed, but he finally gave up the fight and agreed.

"Okay," he said grudgingly. "I guess goin' to the movies does sound fun," he admitted.

"Atta boy, Bozer!" Jack said as he stood up, thumping Mac's roommate lightly on the back. Bozer stood up and held his hand out to Riley to help her up, and MacGyver made his way to his feet as well.

"I'm driving!" Jack said as he headed for the door. No one argued with him; Jack was usually the one to drive, but even if that hadn't been the case, Mac and Riley weren't really in the mood or physical condition to drive safely, and Bozer wasn't going to argue with Jack about it.

 _Getting out and seeing that movie will be fun. Besides, Jack's right. We're just going to the movies. What could go wrong?_

 ** _Oh Mac. Don't you know never to say that? That's like an invitation for everything to go wrong!_**

 ** _Anyway. There's the last chapter! What did you guys think? Was it okay?_**

 ** _Like I said in last chapter, I've got two retellings in the works! One is from season 2, and one is from season 4, which is also a request from Josegirlfriendandpercyssister! I've also got a one-shot that's almost done, and then I've had like, 3 original story ideas that I'm really excited about!_**

 ** _Let me know what you thought of this story, and thank you all so much again for sticking with me!_**


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